


The Girl Who Met With Death

by Abbie01



Series: The Girl From the Stars [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Supernatural, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Lost in space - Freeform, More tags as they apply, Psychological Trauma, Swearing, Trauma, cursing, little to no romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-05-31 09:43:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 78,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15116783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbie01/pseuds/Abbie01
Summary: Zahra Rivers is lost. The wormhole that took her to a strange new world has not taken her home again. Instead, she and her companions—Lowbacca the Wookiee, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO—find themselves in yet another galaxy, on yet another planet. And the repairs to their ship are failing. Landing on this new planet, Zahra is thrust into a struggle to save it from destruction. Joining forces with a pair of brothers who are driven to save their world—a world they endangered in the first place—Zahra must call upon all her strength and the Force to save them, their friends, and this new world she finds herself on, and then find a way home. Facing new dangers, Zahra must also combat the darkness that has plagued her for weeks and continues to haunt her in increasingly new and terrifying ways. But nothing ever goes as planned….





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this!  
> Updates may be sporadic!
> 
> I would recommend reading the previous installment of this series, otherwise you might get confused.
> 
> I do not own Star Wars, Supernatural, or The Hobbit, only my original character. All rights to their respective owners.

Zahra Rivers sat in the pilot’s seat in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, trying to catch some sleep. Her feet were propped up on the console, crossed at the ankles, her head tilted back, spilling her long red-gold braid over the chair’s back. She had been attempting to sleep for several minutes with little success. Finally, she gave up. Snapping her eyes open, Zahra dropped her feet to the floor and sat up, rubbing at the crick in her neck.

 

Heaving a sigh that seemed to come up straight from her toes, Zahra leaned one elbow on the console in front of her and sat her chin in her hand. She glared at the viewport at what she saw there.

 

Stars.

 

Well, that was a given, obviously. They _were_ in space, after all.

 

It wasn’t the stars themselves, exactly, that bothered her. It was what they represented. The truth was, Zahra didn’t recognize a single one. The scans of the sector they had performed lent little information about their position. There had been no sign of sentient life, no technological signatures, absolutely nothing to tell them where in the universe they were.

 

Which could only mean one thing: they were lost.

 

Zahra’s glare turned melancholy as she silently, though thoroughly, berated herself. This was all her fault. Everything was her fault. It had been _her_ that had set them on this course to begin with. If only…. Well, it didn’t matter now.

 

Zahra sighed again and decided to run another sensor sweep. If she could just find something, anything, to point them in the right direction, she’d feel better about the situation they were in. She adjusted the computer’s scanning parameters, increasing the distance searched. The Falcon was so old, the ship was being stretched to the limits of its capabilities, but R2-D2, who spent most of the days and nights hooked into the ship’s computer, would help to compensate.

 

As she waited for the results, she sensed the approach of her friend and fellow Jedi, Lowbacca. She said nothing as he entered and nothing when he sat in the co-pilot’s seat. The silence persisted until the computer beeped, signaling the scan was completed. They both leaned forward to look at the small screen on the center console that displayed the results.

 

“We’re approaching a star system,” Zahra reported. She scrolled through the screen. “One planet capable of supporting life… densely populated… strong technological advancement. Seems to have several orbital satellites. One moon. Blah, blah, blah.” She glanced at Lowie. “What do you think?” she asked.

 

Lowbacca contemplated the screen for a moment, then said, “We don’t have much of a choice. The dragon scales won’t hold forever. We need a more permanent fix.” He looked out at the stars. They were travelling at sub-light speeds, so that the stars almost appeared to be standing still as they passed them.

 

Lowbacca stood. “Set a course for this planet. But steer clear of the satellites. If they’re not a space-faring people, I would rather not draw their attention.”

 

“Got it,” Zahra said. She set the coordinates as Lowbacca left, probably to inform the droids of their destination. As she punched in the coordinates, Zahra felt a small measure of relief that they finally had a plan.

 

*

 

It was Artoo who had first discovered the problem. They’d plunged through the wormhole and out the other side, expecting to see the stars of their own galaxy. But, almost immediately, the wormhole had disappeared and the alarm claxons had gone off. In a flurry of movement, the two Jedi and C-3PO had hastened to determine what the cause of the alarm was. Artoo, ever calm, had simply plugged into the computer terminal and had a long talk with the ship’s computer.

 

What he reported left the two organic beings feeling cold. The dragon scales had not fared well in the trip through the wormhole. Small fissures had appeared in them, which, in turn, caused stress on the surrounding outer hull. Artoo had been sent out to do minor repairs, but not even his welding torch could fix the problem one hundred percent.

 

For the past two weeks, the Falcon had limped through space under threat that the internal atmosphere would bleed out into the vacuum, killing both Jedi. The constant uncertainty, compounded by the fact that they were not home yet and had no way to get there, had caused many sleepless nights for the two Jedi. Especially for Zahra, who had been having issues with sleep even prior to this latest catastrophe.

 

It didn’t help, either, that she felt responsible for their predicament. She kept telling herself that one wayward journey through a wormhole was one thing—you might even call it an adventure! But two? And not to mention that the Falcon was in need of even more repairs!

 

If only…. Oh, if only she had listened to Master Skywalker. If only she had put her faith in her fellow Jedi instead of taking it upon herself to find her missing master, none of this would have happened! She spent most of her time avoiding Lowie and the others. When she slept, her sleep was fitful, filled with haunting dreams that she couldn’t remember upon waking. The hours she spent awake grew until three days had passed and she had not slept at all.

 

When they set course for the new planet, Zahra retreated to her room and meditated until she felt some of her exhaustion lift away. Then Threepio came to let her know they were approaching the new planet. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and stared at the wall in front of her. After a moment, she stood and went to join Lowbacca in the cockpit.

 

*

 

They headed for the northern hemisphere, angling towards the part of the planet in its night cycle. The satellites in orbit were unsophisticated so they didn’t have any fear of being detected. They entered the atmosphere and Zahra gritted her teeth as she piloted the ship through the dense clouds. Worrying about satellites was one thing, but being seen by sentient eyes was another, so she and Lowie reached out with the Force and cloaked the ship as well as they could from within it. Zahra glanced at the computer screen between the seats and saw that they were flying over a densely populated coastal area.

 

Lowbacca pulled up the scans Artoo had made of the planet while they’d still been en route. “Head further inland,” he told her. “There’s plenty of land that is unpopulated in the middle of this continent. We should be able to find a place to hide the ship and work on repairs.”

 

Zahra nodded and kept the ship slightly above the clouds. She slowed the ship even further, hoping the sound of the engines wouldn’t draw attention. For a few seconds, everything was peaceful. Then it all went to hell.

 

All at once, a bright light shot up into the sky several yards in front of them causing proximity alarms to go off, the ship began to shake around them, and a heavy darkness settled on Zahra’s heart. She traded a look of horror and fear with Lowie and she could see he felt it too.

 

“What the hell?!” she shouted, trying to regain control of the ship. She jerked the controls and the ship spun down out of the cloud cover. “SHIT!” she screamed as some kind of aerial transport slid past the nose of their ship, with inches to spare. “FUCK!” She pulled back on the controls and the ship shot upwards.

 

“Maybe I should fly the ship?” Lowbacca suggested.

 

She shot him a glare as she leveled the Falcon out again. Lowie held up his hands and said no more. She flew the ship back into the clouds and skirted around the tunnel of light, trying to ignore the darkness that pulsated from it in waves.

 

“Lowie,” she finally said as they drifted over the planet, the darkness of the light receding behind them, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

 

They shared a grim look, and flew onwards.

 

*

 

The next morning dawned brightly. They had settled the ship in the shadow of some mountains, in a small hollow formed by tall trees, their evergreen leaves expelling a fragrant scent. The mountain caps high above were dusted white with snow, something that put Zahra in mind of her home planet. She turned her gaze away and concentrated on her task, peeling the dragon scales from the underbelly of the Falcon.

 

Zahra tossed a scale down with a look of disgust. They were now blackened from the heat of reentry into another planet’s atmosphere. They hadn’t lasted as long as she’d expected. “Maybe I should’ve insisted on Mithril, after all,” she muttered to herself, but even as she said it, she knew she wouldn’t have. The dwarves of Erebor had precious little of that white gem left; she would not have asked them for it.

 

She sighed and kicked half-heartedly at the pile of scales. She was tired and in a really pissy mood, and thinking about the past didn’t help. Neither she nor Lowie had slept the previous night, both too anxious about this new world they were on to settle down. Which meant she was now on day four of zero sleep.

 

Zahra shook her head trying to clear it of the fog that threatened to cover it.

 

She turned and walked to the edge of the Falcon, leaning against one of its legs. Crossing her arms, she tilted back her head and looked out at the world they were on. It was beautiful, peaceful. How could such a world be filled with the dark side? What was that light they’d seen? What could it hold that would produce such darkness? She’d felt something similar on Middle-Earth. But that had been different. The darkness of that world hadn’t been fully awake. It had still laid mostly dormant, waking in spurts but never fully rising.

 

This? This darkness was very much awake and aware and out there somewhere. What did it mean—if anything—that she and her friends had found themselves on another world that stood upon the brink of disaster? Zahra had never believed in fate, but….

 

“It’s just a coincidence,” she said to herself. “Just a coincidence.” Her jaws stretched in a yawn. A coincidence…. If she said it enough, would she believe it?

 

*

 

Lowbacca exited the ship and looked at Zahra staring off into the distance. He frowned, baring his teeth thoughtfully. Something was wrong with her. Something more than being far from home and looking for her master. Something had happened to her in Middle-Earth, but what he did not know. He had not broached the subject with her for fear that she would shut him down. In fact, he knew she would. She didn’t like to cause people to worry. It would be an admirable trait if it didn’t drive him crazy.

 

And this new planet, with its shafts of light that stank of darkness… he was sure it could not be helping. She wasn’t sleeping. He knew that. He knew she had been avoiding him, as much as one could on a spaceship. She felt guilty for their predicament. He didn’t blame her for any of this. It was the will of the Force. They couldn’t control it. It troubled him that she felt she should.

 

Lowie’s frown deepened as he watched her.

 

For now, she needed to sleep. All else could be dealt with later.

 

He squared his broad shoulders and headed toward her. “Zahra,” he said. She jerked, looking up at him. “Are you well?” he asked, eyes taking in the deep shadows and bags under her eyes. She was pale, too, her skin sallow-looking and clinging to her frame. She was beautiful for a human, but with poor nourishment and lack of sleep, her beauty had faded, and here she was, a shadow of her former self.

 

She looked up at him for a long moment, her eyes still distant. He watched as her gaze cleared and settled on him with keen sharpness. A fevered light filled her eyes and she nodded. “I’m fine, Lowbacca,” she said.

 

His eyes narrowed. Her voice was too high; she sounded like she had been holding onto a rope and was just about ready to let go. He couldn’t let her. “Are you sure?” he asked, stepping closer.

 

She looked up at him, her bottom lip trembled, and then she ducked her head and nodded again. “I’m sure,” she mumbled.

 

Lowbacca let her answer hang between them for a long drawn out moment. Then he rumbled deep in his chest and patted her shoulder lightly. “Go onto the ship,” he said as gently as he could. “Get some sleep.”

 

“I can’t sleep,” she said looking up with glassy green eyes. “It eludes me, like trying to grasp my own shadow.”

 

He put his huge paw-like hand on the center of her back and led her toward the ramp, walking beside her. “Come,” he said. “I will help you.”

 

“But the ship--!” she started, digging in her heels.

 

“Can wait,” he finished evenly. He had let her take command of this mission; it had been her idea anyway. But now he had to put his foot down. He was a Jedi Knight and she was a Padawan. He had to assert some authority now, for her sake. “Come,” he said again.

 

She looked from the scales to him and then sighed, her shoulders drooping in defeat. She let him lead her up into the ship, but Lowbacca felt no joy at this victory. As he helped her into her bunk and guided her through meditation techniques to cleanse her mind of worry and fear, he couldn’t help but wonder if she would ever know true peace.

 

*

 

_The meadow she was in should have been beautiful. Indeed, the flowers and tall grass should have been bright with color and the sky above should have been blue. But there was no color in this twilight world. All was gray, shadows unnaturally long, the sun a stark white sphere in the sky that gave no warmth. Zahra frowned and looked about her. She didn’t see anything in the great expanse, not at first._

_Then her eyes fixated on a figure approaching from the distance. She paused and tilted her head, puzzled. Who was it? And where was she? She didn’t recognize this place. And she had been to more than a few planets._

_The figure began to take shape and she can see it was a man. Pale hair glinted in the sunlight, his clothes as gray and colorless as the rest of the world._

_He was drawing close, and she could make out more of his appearance. He wasn’t bad looking, and very much human, but she didn’t recognize him. She’d never seen him before._

_“Who are you?” she tried to say, but her voice had no sound. She tried to speak again and still nothing._

_Uncertainty began to stir in her heart and Zahra took a step back. She frowned heavily at the approaching man and reached out to the Force, still present even in dreams, and touched him with it._

_She gasped soundlessly, and her heart constricted, her knees growing weak and buckling beneath her. She fell to the ground and, after a frozen moment that seemed to last an eternity, she stumbled to her feet, turned and ran._

_The world did not change around her. It stayed the same. She looked over her shoulder at the man and her heart, already racing, twisted and pounded all the harder at what she saw. The man was even closer. She was running away, but he, still walking, was gaining on her._

_“No!” she shrieked, but, again, there was no sound. She whipped her head around and tried to pick up the pace, but she knew, deep down she knew, there was no point._

_Even as she thought it, she felt a hand clasp her shoulder and she was spun around. She tripped over her feet and, if not for the grip on her shoulder, would have fallen. She looked up at the man who stood before her and saw the only color in the gray world that blazed hotly: red eyes._

_The man smiled._

_Zahra screamed as the darkness engulfed her…. And then she_ woke up.

 

*

 

Zahra sat up in her bunk and panted, her chest heaving. She lifted her hands in front of her, staring at the trembling appendages.

 

“What…” she whispered. “What?” Her voice broke with the words and a sob escaped her. She clenched her hands into fists that shook. “Only a dream.” But it had not felt like a dream. It had felt all too real. Zahra closed her eyes and steadied her breathing until calm filled her and she centered herself. Her trembling stopped and she opened herself to the Force seeking answers.

 

Surely meditation would lend her knowledge of what she had seen. That man with the red eyes.… While not unusual in other species, like the Chiss, for example, red eyes in a human was unheard of. But then, she was in another galaxy. If there were humans here, perhaps some had red eyes?

 

She knew it was a ridiculous assumption even as she made it, but Zahra held fast to that tenuous belief as if it were a lifeline. For all other conclusions were too horrid, too frightening to entertain.

 

“Master,” she whispered into the Force, “guide me. I need to know….” What? She didn’t know what questions to ask. And her Master was not one with the Force. If she was, Zahra would know. Master Danai was very much alive, galaxies away. Alive. To think anything else would be too much for Zahra to bear.

 

In the end it did not matter. The Force was there, as it always was, but Zahra found no answers in it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artoo pushes Zahra to act, and she dreams again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and bookmarks!

The next morning found Zahra and Artoo huddled together by the computer terminal in the ship’s lounge area. She was sitting in the seat that Captain Solo had so often occupied on the long trips she’d taken with him and Masters Organa-Solo and Danai. She glanced over her shoulder at the Dejarik table where she’d routinely bested the captain. As she looked at it, she pictured a certain little hairy-footed fellow sitting across from her as she tried to explain the difference between the Light side and the Dark side of the Force to him.

 

Artoo’s whistle, which somehow managed to sound exasperated, dragged her from her thoughts and she turned back to the computer screen, his question appearing in text at the bottom.

 

“I’m fine, Artoo,” she said, giving him a smile and patting his dome in reassurance. “I just had a bad dream last night, that’s all.” She began to run through the scans they’d made of the surrounding area, hoping to ward off any more questions.

 

Artoo didn’t offer anything else and they went over the data in silence.

 

“Looks like the nearest populated area is south of us, approximately 52 miles. A little too close, but I think we’re secluded enough here, so we shouldn’t have to worry about random passersby,” Zahra said. She sat back in the chair and allowed it to swivel beneath her, rocking side to side. She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, trying to appear as if she was thinking, but in reality her mind was a blank.

 

After enough time passed that Artoo grew impatient, she shrugged. “I don’t know, what do you think we should do?” she asked him.

 

The top of his dome swiveled around and she realized that if he’d been an organic life form he would have rolled his eyes.

 

 ** _I think you should travel to the nearest town and see what the world is like_** , was his answer, typing up on the computer screen.

 

Yes, she should. But did she really want to? Zahra’s sudden apathy about the situation surprised her... for about 0.2 seconds, then she went back to not caring.

 

“I wouldn’t even know what to look for,” she said.

 

 ** _We have hand-held scanners in the cargo-hold_** , Artoo replied, **_I can download the acceptable specifications into the scanner and you can use that to search for material to replace the dragon scales while you compile data on the world itself. Meanwhile, Lowbacca, Threepio and I will continue to seal the hull fractures and perform any maintenance necessary to get the Millennium Falcon ready for flight._**

****

It was actually a pretty smart plan. Leave it to Artoo to come up with it.

 

“I don’t know,” Zahra hedged, rocking the chair again. “We don’t even know what kind of life forms are on this planet.” It was a weak protest; she knew they would have checked.

 

 ** _While you were sleeping, Lowbacca had me run a scan to determine the dominant life forms on this planet_** , Artoo answered automatically. **_The dominate life forms are, in fact, humans._**

 

Zahra stared at him.

 

 ** _There should be no problem with you venturing among them_** , Artoo continued.

 

“Great,” she said, with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

 

 ** _Why are you so disinterested?_ ** Artoo asked. **_Is it not your mission to return to our own galaxy and resume the search for Jedi Master Shika Danai?_**

****

“Of course it is!” she snapped with more heat than she’d ever shown the astro-droid.

 

 ** _Then what is the reason of your reluctance to take action?_ ** Artoo persisted.

 

She blinked. “I don’t know,” she answered, truthfully. She turned the chair away from the screen so she couldn’t read it anymore. Artoo didn’t say anything else, in any case. He merely watched her as she struggled with the riot of emotions in her breast.

 

The Dejarik table had never seemed so far away, even though it was still sitting there, bolted to the floor, within a few feet of her.

 

Zahra sighed and ran her hands over her face. Turning back to the screen, she grimaced at Artoo.

 

“I’ll go,” she said. “I’ll tell Lowbacca the plan, and I’ll get the scanner for you. Okay?”

 

Artoo whistled back, the sound almost smug. **_That will be acceptable,_** printed across the screen and Zahra smiled at him.

 

*

 

Lowbacca was a little more reserved about the idea.

 

“I don’t know if I like the idea of you going out into this world alone,” he said.

 

“Indeed!” Threepio exclaimed fretfully. “There’s no telling what ruffians you might come across!”

 

“Threepio, I’m a Jedi, I can handle a few ‘ruffians’,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “And, Lowie, it’s not like you can go. This planet is a human world. You’d just scare them. I’m the most logical choice.” She failed to mention, albeit purposely, that she wasn’t exactly thrilled about the whole thing either.

 

Lowie growled deep in his throat. “I still don’t like it.”

 

“I left you guys when we were on Middle-Earth,” she pointed out.

 

“You weren’t alone,” he replied. “You were with trustworthy people who were going to help us.”

 

Zahra pushed down the surge of sorrow at the mention of her friends and crossed her arms. “Well, we’re alone here,” she said, with a touch of annoyance. “There’s no one around to help us, and we need to fix the Falcon, again. If I don’t go, we’ll never fix the ship, we’ll never find the wormhole again, and we’ll never make it home!”

 

Lowbacca crossed his own arms and scowled, first at her, and then out at the trees surrounding the ship. She knew she had him, but the Wookiee was not willing to admit defeat, even when it was apparent.

 

After a moment, she rested her hand on his forearm. “It’ll be fine, Lowie,” she said in a gentle voice. “Trust in the Force and in me,” she said. “It’ll all be fine.”

 

Lowbacca sighed so heavily, his whole upper body shifted. He looked down at her. “Very well,” he said. “You can head out tomorrow.”

 

Zahra squeezed his arm once, dropped her hand, and headed back into the ship.

 

*

 

The cargo-hold in the Falcon had a long history of being used to smuggle goods. In recent years, it housed mainly supplies, like food, medicine and the like. But there were still a few dusty corners where one could find treasures. Artoo had been right. There was a case of scanners in the hold, wedged thoughtlessly behind canisters of liquid bacta. Ducking behind the huge bacta tank rolled on to its side, Zahra climbed on top of the canisters, and used the Force to lift the case up. She pulled out two hand-held scanners and flipped one open. She blew on the surface, producing a cloud of dust so thick she coughed.

 

Shaking her head at Captain Solo’s lack of janitorial skills, she hopped down and made her way through the maze of objects and random things until she reached the entrance, which was just a piece of the floor overhead lifted away to reveal the hold beneath. Handing the scanners out to Lowbacca, she Force-jumped out of the hold and wiped her dust-covered hands on her pants.

 

“Why two?” Lowbacca asked, handing her one and keeping the other.

 

She shrugged. “Artoo wanted two of them,” she said.

 

They walked back to the lounge and sat on either side of the Dejarik table. Artoo rolled over and plugged into first one scanner and then the other. Zahra assumed he was downloaded the specifications into them like he’d said. While he was doing that, Zahra and Lowie started a game on the table and waited.

 

*

 

Artoo’s whistle brought a halt to the game a little while later. By then, Threepio had joined them, standing over Artoo as the little droid worked.

 

“He has finished,” Threepio announced unnecessarily.

 

Zahra picked up the scanner closest to her. Tapping the touch-screen, she brought up the files Artoo had installed and flicked through them, nodding. “Thanks, Artoo,” she said. “This’ll help a lot.”

 

He beeped. “He says you’re welcome,” Threepio said.

 

Zahra smiled. “What was the other one for?” she asked, motioning to the scanner held in Lowie’s huge paws.

 

“In case the first one breaks or you lose it,” Threepio said for Artoo.

 

“Do you predict such an event happening?” she said, raising her eyebrows.

 

No one answered.

 

“I’m not _that_ clumsy!” she objected.

 

“You’re a bit clumsy,” Lowie said.

 

“It never hurts to be safe,” Threepio said.

 

Artoo’s beep sounded rather rude.

 

She glared through narrowed eyes at the three of them, then sighed, dropping the matter.

 

“Well, it’s late,” she said. “We should eat and get some sleep, Lowie.”

 

“Do you think you can sleep?” he asked.

 

“I think so,” she said, nodding. “I’m still tired. I’ll leave early in the morning; it’s a long way to the nearest town and who knows how long it’ll take me, even moving at Force speeds. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

 

“Take as long as you need,” Lowie said. “But at the first sign of trouble, contact me.”

 

“I will,” she promised.

 

*

 

After a light dinner of dried meats and old bread, Zahra packed her beat up old pack with whatever she thought she might need: spare clothes, bedroll, food, the scanners, a fresh pouch of bacta pills. She also slipped a few keepsakes into the pack: the stone Gandalf had inscribed his sigil into, and the emerald that hung from the simple chain Thorin had given her. The last, she held close to her heart for a moment before putting it into the pack.

 

Slipping beneath the covers of her bed, she ran through the meditative techniques Lowie had shown her the previous day and soon was asleep.

 

*

 

_She was back in the gray world. But instead of the man with red eyes she saw a different man. He was standing several feet away, his long coat rumpled, and his dark hair curiously windswept; there wasn’t even a hint of a breeze. She reached out to the Force and touched him with it, her erratic heart rate lessening when she felt only Light from him._

_Zahra sighed with relief… but then the man cocked his head to the side, his expression turning puzzled._

_“Who are you?” he asked._

_Before she could answer, he vanished in a flash of light._

_“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” a voice said behind her._

_Zahra spun. There was another man, different from the previous two. He was bald on top with a band of white hair wrapped around the sides of his head. “He really shouldn’t have come here,” the new man said._

_Zahra used the Force again and frowned at what she felt. There was the Light side, but also something dark and ugly slithering beneath the surface._

_“And now we have you and your friends to deal with,” the man continued. “Here’s a piece of advice, kiddo: don’t get involved.”_

_“Involved in what?” she tried to ask, but she still had no voice._

_The man smiled at her and then vanished too._

*

 

Zahra woke up, feeling confused. What in the hell was that? Who were those people? And what was she not supposed to get involved with? She had no intention of getting involved in anything that she didn’t have to with this world. Despite the darkness that pulsated through it, she had resolved that it wasn’t her problem. She didn’t know what Lowie’s thoughts were, but she felt he would most likely agree with her. She nodded to herself, trying to convince her heart of what her mind was thinking. But she knew that she couldn’t control anything. And if the Force led her down a certain path, she couldn’t ignore it. No matter how much she may wish to, sometimes.

 

Zahra stared at the empty bunk above her until sleep descended once more. This time, it was dreamless.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra sets out and we are introduced to our heroes.

Zahra exited the ship early the next morning. Lowbacca, Threepio and Artoo were outside waiting for her. The morning light was pale and a light fog danced across the ground. The grass was still dewy, and shimmered with color whenever a ray of early morning sunlight chanced through the fog.

 

“How do I look?’ she asked, holding out her hands to either side so her friends could get a look at her.

 

“You look nice,” Lowie said.

 

“Think I’ll blend in?” Zahra tugged at the bottom of the mid-riff baring black jacket.

 

“If the humans dress like that, then probably, yes,” Lowie said.

 

Zahra glanced down at her clothes. Deciding that her Jedi attire would be much too conspicuous, she’d gone back into the cargo-hold and found some clothes that had once belonged to Jaina Solo. Her worn-in brown boots were traded in for a pair of flat-soled, black boots, skin-tight black pants that tucked into the boots, a purple shirt that hung loose at her waist and the jacket. Jaina’s style of dress was a bit more daring than Zahra was used to, but it would do for now.

 

“Where’s your lightsaber?” Lowbacca asked, realizing he couldn’t see it.

 

Zahra turned and lifted up the back of her shirt. She had one of Jaina’s belts on as well, and this one allowed for the lightsaber to be cared across the back of her waist, hidden from sight.

 

Lowbacca made a noise that was half grunt, half growl. “It will do,” he conceded.

 

Zahra smiled at him as she turned back around.

 

“Do you have your comlink?” he asked.

 

She patted her belt again. “Got it,” she said.

 

“I still don’t like this,” he grumbled, “but there’s nothing that can be done. May the Force be with you, Zahra.”

 

“May the Force be with you, Lowie, Threepio, Artoo,” she said.

 

She hugged each of them and then set off southward.

 

*

 

Several hours into her trek, the fog had cleared and the sun was climbing to the east. There was no sign of a cloud in the sky, and Zahra despaired of having any sort of cover once she left the forest. Once the trees began to thin out, she paused and sat to take a breather. She opened her canteen and sipped at her water. Setting it aside again, she tilted her head back to gaze up at the trees overhead, the tops dancing in a breeze she could not feel. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest as it came to life around her: the breeze in the trees, the rustle of small woodland creatures in the underbrush, the hum of life that strengthened the Force and, in turn, her. Zahra felt a smile drag across her lips.

 

No matter how she felt inside, she could always count on the Force to be there, to guide her, to be at the ready if she should need to use it. She thought about the first time she’d used it in a physical capacity. She hadn’t understood what she was doing. It had just been a stray thought that passed through her mind as she stood in one of the small gardens at her father’s estate. She’d seen a servant passing by carrying a tray of pastries. _I want one,_ she had thought to herself and, almost unbidden, her hand had come up. A pastry had lifted from the tray and flown directly into her hand.

 

Zahra had been so surprised, she’d stared at the pastry for several minutes, not sure of what had just happened. After a few minutes, she’d shrugged the episode off and eaten the pastry. It was a little over six months later, on her seventh birthday that she learned just what she had done. And her life had changed forever.

 

Zahra pushed aside the memories, the homesickness. She’d never been homesick for her father’s estate; the Jedi Academy, or the Temple, sure, but never the estate. And she did not have time to dwell on it. She stood, dusted off the back of her pants, and set off again.

 

*

 

In time, she found the road (made of a hard, gray substance with yellow lines painted on it) and headed south. She pulled one of the scanners from her pack and directed it around her, looking for any information on the planet. She learned nothing that the ship’s sensors hadn’t already told her. With a grunt of annoyance, she stowed the device away again.

 

Gripping the Force around her to cloak herself should anyone pass by, she picked up the pace, hurrying along the side of the road. She’d wasted a good part of the day sitting in the forest. The sun had passed its zenith and clouds had moved in from the east. She was still some miles from the nearest town and would probably not reach it before dark.

 

Zahra sighed and began to run.

 

*

 

Dean Winchester was having a bad week. Hell, it’d been a bad year. You could even go so far as to argue that it had been a bad life, and was only going to get shittier the more it dragged on. But, seriously, none of it compared to the shit-faced week he’d had.

 

First, his brother Sam, had gone off the deep end and run off with a two-faced demon bitch, who proved just how two-faced she’d been all along when she got Sam to ice the demon Lilith. Second, the icing of Lilith released Lucifer, a.k.a. the devil, from his cage in Hell, and thereby setting the world on the road to the Apocalypse. Then, he and Sam had discovered, in an extremely painful way that he, Dean Winchester, was the vessel of the archangel Michael. And now, Bobby Singer, Dean and Sam’s friend, fellow hunter of the supernatural and surrogate father, was in a hospital bed and even grumpier than usual after being told he would never walk again.

 

Yeah, it was a bad week.

 

And no matter what he said to Sam, Dean was royally pissed off. Every time he looked at Sam, Dean felt this irrepressible mix of anger, hurt and disappointment. What was worse, he didn’t feel like he could trust his own brother anymore.

 

The doctor hurried out with Bobby shouting insults after him, before turning to Sam and Dean. Dean stared at the floor, thinking about what Zachariah had said. If Dean had said ‘yes’ to Michael and became the archangel’s vessel, Bobby would have been healed. Dean had said ‘no’. He hadn’t felt guilty at the time, but right now he sure did.

 

“You believe that yahoo?” Bobby asked agitatedly.

 

“Screw him. You’ll be fine,” Dean said with more conviction than he felt. He had gotten real good at hiding how he really felt over the years. Really good. Still, Bobby seemed to appreciate it.

 

“So let me ask the million dollar question,” Sam said. “What do we do now?”

 

“Well,” Bobby said. “We save as many as we can for as long as we can, I guess. It’s bad. Whoever wins, heaven or hell, we’re boned.”

 

“What if we win?” Dean interjected, thoughtfully. Bobby and Sam looked at him. “I’m serious. Screw the angels and the demons and their crap apocalypse. You know, they wanna fight a war, they can find their own planet. This one’s ours, and I say they get the hell off it.” He walked as he talked, Sam and Bobby following him with their eyes. “We take them all on. We kill the devil, hell, we even kill Michael if we have to, but we do it our own damn selves.”

 

Bobby stared at him, incredulous. “And how are we supposed to do all this, genius?”

 

And here it came, the clincher: “I got no idea,” Dean said, shrugging. “But what I do have is a GED and a give-them-hell attitude and I’ll figure it out.”

 

Bobby and Sam exchanged amused looks.

 

“You are nine kinds of crazy, boy,” Bobby said.

 

Dean thought about it and nodded, “It’s been said.” He stepped forward and clapped the older hunter on the shoulder. “Listen, you stay on the mend. We’ll see you in a bit.” They nodded at each other and Dean began to leave, Sam close behind him.

 

“Sam?” Bobby said, and Dean turned back at the door, waiting to see what Bobby would say. “I was awake. I know what I said back there. I just want you to know that that was the demon talking. I ain’t cutting you out, boy. Not ever.”

 

Sam breathed in deep and exhaled on a sigh. “Thanks, Bobby.”

 

“You’re welcome,” Bobby replied. “I deserve a damn medal for this,”—he nodded at his useless legs—“but you’re welcome.” Sam grinned at him and then Dean led the way out again.

 

As they were passing through the waiting room, the television was blaring the local news station. Dean glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, expecting to see more reports about tsunamis or hurricanes or some other kind of natural disaster that had become commonplace in the days following Lucifer’s rise from hell. Instead, he paused when the screen switched from the pretty, blonde anchorwoman to home video footage of … _the hell?_

 

“Experts are still puzzled by the footage of what appears to be a UFO that has been circling the internet for the past few days,” the anchorwoman said. “What was first thought to be a hoax has now turned into a conspiracy theory with footage of the UFO appearing through multiple news outlets, from multiple sources. Over one hundred people have come forward with footage of the UFO from across several different states. It was first spotted in Ilchester, Maryland around the time when the beam of light shot into the sky around the…”

 

“You see that?” Dean asked Sam who had paused beside him. They watched as the footage on the screen shifted to another angle, from a different camera. The image was much clearer and showed the supposed UFO in greater detail. “I’m telling you man, people are crazy.”

 

“Yeah, that even kind of looks like the Millennium Falcon from _Star Wars_ ,” Sam said.

 

Dean chuckled. Sam was a die-hard _Star Wars_ nerd.

 

“…no relation to the beam of light, the governor’s office said,” the anchorwoman came back on the screen. “We’ll be following this story as it develops. Back to you, Steve.”

 

Dean and Sam left the hospital, Dean’s mood, lightened by the crazy story on the news (aliens? Yeah, right.), turning sour once more, as reality began to set in.

 

“You know, I was thinking, Dean, maybe we could go after the Colt,” Sam said as an ambulance drove past them. Dean watched it stop by the emergency doors and looked away before he could see who was getting out. He headed for the Impala, his Baby.

 

“Why? What difference would that make?” Dean asked.

 

“Well, we could use it on Lucifer,” Sam said. “I mean, you just said back there—.”

 

“I just said a bunch of crap for Bobby’s benefit,” Dean said, stopping. He laughed half-heartedly. “I mean, I’ll fight. I’ll fight to the last man, but let’s at least be honest. I mean, we don’t stand a snowball’s chance and you know that. I mean, hell, you of all people know that.”

 

Dean couldn’t help the light dig as he walked around Sam and headed for the Impala again.

 

“Dean,” Sam said, making Dean pause once more. He rolled his eyes before he turned to his younger brother. Sam sighed and said, “Is there something you wanna say to me?”

 

Jeez, Sam always knew how to cut to the chase.

 

Dean looked at him and struggled for words. Words that wouldn’t cost too much to say or to hear.

 

“I tried, Sammy,” he said. “I mean, I really tried. But I just can’t keep pretending that everything’s alright. Because it’s not… and it’s never going to be. You chose a demon over your own brother, and look what happened.”

 

“I would give anything,” Sam began, “anything to take it all back.”

 

Dean looked down at Sam’s admission, but it was a little too late. “I know you would,” Dean said. “And I know how sorry you are, I do. But, man, you were the one that I depended on the most and you let me down in ways that I can’t even…” He trailed off, unsure of how to continue. He blinked, hard, fighting the tears that wanted to fall. “I’m just—I’m having a hard time forgiving and forgetting here, you know?”

 

Sam, looking like a whipped puppy, nodded. “What can I do?” he asked.

 

Dean smiled wryly. Hell if he knew. “Honestly?” he said. “Nothing. I just don’t—I don’t think that we can ever be what we were, you know?” Sam was nodding. And then Dean said what was really on his mind. “I just don’t think I can trust you.”

 

He watched Sam’s face transform as realization and pain washed over him. He loved Sam; even still, he loved him. But after everything, after all that had happened, he couldn’t trust him. And that hurt them both.  
Dean turned away from Sam’s heartbroken face and walked to the Impala. Only once did he pause and almost turn back, but he finally got into the car. A few minutes later, Sam joined him.

 

In a heavy silence filled with things said and unsaid, Dean started the car and they drove off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra makes it to town and meets two odd women.

Zahra sighed as she slumped onto a wooden bench. _Force, I’m tired_ , she thought. She wiggled her toes in her boots. Zahra leaned into the bench and blinked up at the starry sky. Pulling out her comlink, she pushed the button and waited for Lowie to answer.

 

“Zahra?” he asked.

 

“Yeah,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I made it to the town.”

 

“Good,” he said and she could sense his relief. “Did you have any trouble?”

 

“None,” she said. “I made scans as I went, but Lowie, I’m not finding anything we can use for the ship.”

 

Lowie’s silence was heavy and laden with disappointment.

 

“I’ll keep looking, though,” she assured him.

 

“Very well,” he said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

 

“I will,” she assured him, but she knew that even if she did, she wouldn’t bother him. They needed to keep a low profile. Which meant he needed to stay with the ship.

 

She clicked off her comlink after wishing him a good-night and stood.

 

The sky was full dark now, and Zahra spotted the sliver of the moon in the sky far overhead. It wasn’t quite midnight, but close. She walked through the town, noticing the strange land speeders of varying sizes, colors, and designs. She scanned a few and found that, while close to what they needed, there was enough of a disparity in the metals to make a difference.

 

Turning away from the sixth land speeder, her stomach growled. She sighed and rummaged in her pack for the food she’d brought. It was mostly gone, and she needed to save some for the journey back, so Zahra took a few bites of bread and dried meat, before stuffing it away again. Her hand brushed against something cool and smooth as she rifled through her pack and she grasped it. Pulling out her hand, she opened it to find the emerald from Thorin. On impulse, she slipped it over her head, lifted her hair free of the chain, and slipped the emerald down her shirt to hide it. Somehow, having that small green gem around her neck gave her a measure of peace she hadn’t had until then… until she sensed someone behind her.

 

“You lost, honey?” a woman’s voice asked.

 

Zahra turned to find that there were two women standing there, one middle-aged, the other in her early twenties. Zahra turned the Force on them and felt the connection between them that only came from family. Mother and daughter, perhaps? They certainly looked alike.

 

“I’m, er, just passing through,” she said.

 

The older woman smiled, but her eyes were narrow and suspicious. “Where are you from?” she asked.

 

Zahra shrugged, adopting an air of nonchalance, even as she angled away from them. “Nowhere near here.”

 

The young woman lifted an eyebrow and shared a glance with her companion. “Hungry?” she asked in a pleasant voice.

 

Zahra glanced between them. The Force told her these people were curious and suspicious of her, but they weren’t evil. “I am,” she said.

 

“Well, come on with us. We were just about to grab some supper. You’re welcome to join us,” the older woman said.

 

“I can’t pay you,” Zahra said directly.

 

The woman waved this off. “Don’t worry about it, honey,” she said. “We’re just a couple o’ gals who are traveling and happened to cross paths. We women need to stick together. We’ll buy you dinner and you tell us a little about yourself. Help to pass the time. And you might even make some friends.”

 

“Okay,” Zahra said.

 

“What’s your name, honey?” the woman asked as they headed to a nearby eating establishment. The sign over the door read, in Basic, Carrie’s Diner.

 

“Zahra Rivers,” Zahra replied.

 

“I’m Ellen Harvelle and this is my daughter, Jo. It’s good to meet you,” Ellen said.

 

“Likewise,” Zahra said.

 

They entered the diner and Jo led the way to a booth in the back. She slid into the side that gave her a view of the door. Her mother sat beside her, leaving Zahra forced to take the more vulnerable spot. She glanced around surreptitiously as she sat and spotted the sign that pointed to the restrooms. She turned her attention back to the two women across from her and wasn’t surprised to find them watching her.

 

“What can I get you ladies to drink?” the waitress, a woman in her early fifties, at least, asked, pausing beside their table. She handed them each a laminated single sheet menu.

 

“I’ll have a cup of coffee, black,” Ellen said.

 

“Same,” Jo said.

 

“Glass of water, please,” Zahra asked.

 

“Coming right up,” the waitress toddled off.

 

Zahra trained her eyes on the menu, staring at the pictures of food with names she didn’t recognize. It all looked delicious, though, and her stomach clenched in hunger. The seconds that ticked by while they waited for the waitress to return were tense. Zahra breathed deeply and evenly in an attempt to relax and pulled the Force in close to her.

 

The waitress returned with their drinks. She sat the mugs down in front of Jo and Ellen and the glass of water in front of Zahra. “Decide what you want to eat?” she asked, pulling out a pad and a writing utensil.

 

“What do you recommend?” Zahra asked.

 

“Well, Joey makes a mean double cheeseburger,” the waitress said.

 

“I’ll have that,” Zahra said, setting her menu down on the table.

 

“I’ll have the chef salad,” Ellen said.

 

“I’ll have a grilled chicken sandwich,” Jo requested.

 

The waitress nodded as she wrote on her pad. “Coming right up,” she said, and picked up their menus. She walked off again.

 

Zahra saw a glimmer in Ellen’s eyes that said she was about to start asking questions. Zahra stood up. “Excuse me, er, bathroom,” she said.

 

“Oh sure, honey,” Ellen said smiling.

 

Zahra smiled stiffly and hurried off.

 

Inside the bathroom, she did her business, and then stared into the mirror over the sink as she dried her hands on a brown paper towel. “It’s okay,” she told her reflection. “They’re not dangerous. And if they are, you can take them.” She nodded at her reflection, gaze determined. Still, she dawdled for a few minutes more before exiting the restroom.

 

She noticed Jo and Ellen, heads bent close, talking to one another. Zahra wondered what they were discussing (likely, her) and saw Jo glance up. Jo waved to her and Ellen looked around with a smile on her face. Zahra smiled and wondered. The gestures had been sincere, but still, something about them had ringed false. No, not false. Cautious.

 

Zahra slipped into her seat and placed her hands on the table in front of her.

 

“Everything okay?” she asked.

 

“Everything’s fine,” Ellen said.

 

Jo nodded and sipped her coffee.

 

Something was… off. The way the two women were watching her, put Zahra on edge. She picked up her glass of water and took a sip. Force, she was thirsty. She drained half the glass in one go.

 

She noticed the set of Jo and Ellen’s shoulders ease somewhat. Curious.

 

She put the glass down again. And looked at them expectantly.

 

“So how old are you?” Ellen asked.

 

“Seventeen,” Zahra answered promptly.

 

“Seventeen? And you’re traveling alone?” Ellen looked incredulous.

 

Zahra shrugged. “I wasn’t happy at home,” she said. “I wanted to get out, see the world. Do something besides sit around at home and twiddle my thumbs.”

 

“I can understand that,” Jo said, nodding.

 

“Your parents are okay with you just wandering?” Ellen asked.

 

Zahra nodded. “They’re fine with it.”

 

Ellen frowned. Clearly the idea of parents letting their child wander around on their own was a completely foreign concept. Ellen asked a few more probing questions, and Zahra danced round them, offering half-truths in place of lies, but keeping her answers short and void of detail. Ellen seemed frustrated and Jo hid her smile behind her coffee mug.

 

Their food arrived in due course and Zahra stared at the plate in front of her. This was a cheeseburger? How did one eat it? And what were the crispy golden things beside it? It smelled delicious though, and Zahra reached for her roll of silverware. She paused, aware, once again, of the tension in the two women across from her. Zahra slipped the knife and fork out of the paper napkin and looked up. The two women relaxed considerably this time and Zahra’s eyebrows lifted.

 

“You’re supposed to eat it with your hands,” Jo said, laughing.

 

“Oh,” Zahra said and placed the knife and fork down again. She hefted the cheeseburger, gazing at the dark meat, yellow cheese, green lettuce, pickle and red tomato and pale white onion, sandwiched between two grilled buns. She took a bite, and a white substance oozed out over her fingers and over her tongue. She moaned. “That’s good,” she said around her mouthful.

 

“You act as if you’ve never had one before,” Ellen said, half laughing, half frowning.

 

“I haven’t,” Zahra said without thinking. Swallowing, she quickly added, “My parents were very strict about what I could eat.” Now that was a lie and it pained her to give it. But neither woman seemed to notice as they dug into their own food.

 

Conversation was sporadic after that, all three women focused on their food and filling their stomachs. As they were contemplating ordering dessert, the door to the diner opened, the bell overhead dinging. Jo and Ellen once again stiffened and Zahra glanced over her shoulder. Several men in black suits stepped inside. They looked around before taking a booth on the opposite side of the diner. Zahra felt them with the Force and her blood ran cold.

 

She looked away again, sitting back, hands on the edge of the table, gripping it hard.

 

“Now that I think about it, I’m too full for dessert,” she said.

 

Ellen and Jo tore their eyes from the new arrivals and looked at her.

 

“Me too,” Ellen said.

 

“I am watching my figure,” Jo said patting her stomach for emphasis.

 

“Then, let’s head out,” Ellen said. She pulled some money from her jacket pocket and tossed it to the table amidst their used dishes, not bothering to count it.

 

Zahra slipped her pack on and followed them through the diner. As she passed the line of sight of one of the newcomers, she glanced over out of the corner of her eye. He was watching her. And, for just a moment, a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Zahra could have sworn his eyes were black.

 

*

 

Outside, Ellen and Jo started walking quickly. Zahra, not knowing what to do, stared into the road. She thought about the men inside. The black eyes, the darkness that oozed from them like oil, slick and greasy and altogether wrong. She shivered. She had the distinct impression she’d just escaped something extremely dangerous.

 

“Zahra!”

 

She looked up. Ellen was waving to her. “Come on, honey!” Ellen called.

 

Zahra hurried after them.

 

“We’ve got a motel room for the night,” Ellen said. “Since you don’t have any money, you can stay with us if you want to.”

 

Zahra felt her heart warm at this new, and unexpected, kindness. “Thank you,” she said.

 

At the motel, called the Shady Arms, Ellen let them into a room on the ground floor. Inside there were two beds, a table and two chairs, a couple of bedside tables and lamps, and some sort of metal box with a screen on another table.

 

“Jo and I’ll share this bed, you can have the other,” Ellen said. “Bathrooms through there,” she pointed at another door. “I’m beat, though, so I think I’m gonna turn in.”

 

“Me, too,” Zahra said. She sat on the bed designated hers and tugged off her boots. Her pack, propped beside her, slid to the floor with a thunk.

 

Ellen had disappeared into the bathroom and Jo was sorting through a bag on the other bed, her back to Zahra.

 

Taking the opportunity, Zahra quickly slipped off her belt and stuffed it into her pack. She took off her jacket and tossed it over the pack.

 

As she sat on the bed, Zahra thought back to the diner. Ellen and Jo Harvelle. Strange women. Overly cautious, and more than a little paranoid, too. Zahra realized then that all the conversation between them had been directed at her. She hadn’t asked them anything. Ellen came out of the bathroom, dressed in soft gray pants and a long sleeved sleep-shirt. She smiled at Zahra and patted Jo on the arm when she passed her.

 

What could she ask? Zahra wondered. Why had they tensed nearly every time Zahra did something? What had they been whispering about when Zahra came out of the restroom? What was it about those men that had the two of them hurrying to leave? She couldn’t ask them that. She didn’t want to know.

 

So, Zahra used the bathroom after Jo had left it and, bidding the two women good-night, Zahra slipped into a fitful sleep.

 

*

 

A loud ringing broke the silence of the night, the sound minuscule, but annoying. Zahra groaned as she rubbed her eyes. Ellen snapped on the bedside lamp between the beds and picked up the object that released the high pitched sound. She flipped it open, the object reminding Zahra of her hand-held scanner, and pushed a button.

 

“Hello?” Ellen asked, groggily. Some kind of comlink, then? She ran a hand over her face as she listened. “Rufus? Whoa, whoa, slow down. What?” Ellen sat up, swinging her legs down from the bed. “What?” she repeated. Ellen reached behind her and shook Jo awake, who rolled over and sat up. “Okay. We’ll leave now and get there as soon as we can. Yeah, we’re not far. Uh-huh. See you soon.”

 

“What’s wrong, Mom?” Jo asked.

 

“Rufus needs help,” Ellen said, and that seemed to be enough. Jo shot out of bed and began to change. Ellen hurried to the bathroom, but paused when she saw Zahra awake. “Oh, I forgot,” she said. “Honey, Jo and I have to go. A friend of ours is in trouble. We’ll leave you the key and you can check out in the morning. I’ll leave some money for you, too.”

 

Zahra sat up. She felt a pull in the Force and, despite her better judgment telling her to go back to Lowie, she couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. “I’ll go with you.”

 

“It’ll be too dangerous,” Ellen objected.

 

Zahra bit her lip and did something she didn’t like to do: she used the Force to change Ellen and Jo’s minds. With a wave of her hand she said, “It’ll be fine. I can go with you.”

 

Ellen’s eyes slid out of focus for a moment, as did Jo’s. “It’ll be fine,” Ellen nodded. “You can go with us.”

 

“You can go with us,” Jo repeated.

 

With a sigh of relief, Zahra slipped from her bed and began to pull her boots back on, then her belt (after making sure no one noticed) and her jacket. Grabbing her pack, she slipped outside. She had to tell Lowie. With a pang of guilt, she knew he was not going to be happy with her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra lets her fear get the best of her. Bobby sends Sam and Dean to help Rufus. 
> 
>  
> 
> (My summaries are still bad, I know.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, and the two that will follow it, were originally one long chapter. I split it up into three chapters because otherwise it would have been over 10,000 words long. And this chapter is still longer than I would have liked it to be, thanks to edits. I hope you guys enjoy this, and don't get too mad at me for the ending. Sorry in advance. 
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I know there is a disagreement in the Supernatural fandom on whether Castiel's nickname is Cas or Cass. I'm using Cas, because I like the way it looks.

Zahra panted as she ran down the street. The sound of pursuit was loud in her ears. The shotgun Ellen had given her felt heavy in her hands. How had it come to this? Running for her life from a group of crazed humans? She should have listened to Lowie and gone back to the ship. Instead, she’d come with Jo and Ellen Harvelle to River Pass, Colorado to find that most of the town was dead and those that weren’t were holed up on opposite sides of the town. Many of them appeared to have black eyes. According to Ellen, this meant they were possessed by demons, but Zahra had her doubts.

 

In her galaxy, on many of the old worlds, there were stories of beings of great darkness—also called demons—that haunted dreams and stalked the night. No one believed in them anymore, but the stories remained. If the demons of this world were like those stories, then Zahra should have sensed something from the people, but she didn’t. Through the Force they read like normal humans.

 

Before she’d been able to tell Ellen and Jo this, they’d been attacked by a group of black-eyed humans and she had been separated from them.

 

Zahra vaulted over a shiny red land speeder, the only thing still pristine in this desolate town, and leaned back against the side door. “I should have gone back to the ship,” she muttered as the footsteps drew closer.

 

*

 

**Some Time Before**

 

Sam stood in the doorway of Bobby’s hospital room, looking in at the older man where he sat in his wheelchair by the window. His heart panged with sadness as he watched Bobby. The older hunter seemed somehow diminished, like every vital and strong part of him had been suddenly stripped away. He was bitter and angry and, if Sam had to guess, scared. Sam couldn’t blame him, though. He’d probably feel the same way if he’d been told he couldn’t walk again.

 

Dean came up behind him and stepped to the other side of the door frame, looking in on Bobby too. “It’s been, like, three days now?” he said. “We gotta cheer him up. Maybe I’ll give him a back rub.”

 

Sam looked at him in exasperation. Three days since Bobby had lost the use of his legs. Two days since his and Dean’s conversation in the parking lot of the hospital. Sam pushed the thoughts aside. That wasn’t something he wanted to think about right now.

 

“Dean,” he said in admonishment.

 

“Well, what then?” Dean replied, agitation plain in his voice.

 

“Look, we might have to wrap our heads around the idea that Bobby might not just bounce back this time,” Sam said quietly. He hated the thought, but they had to face it head on instead of pretending it wasn’t a possibility. He and Dean shared a look. His brother did not look happy.

 

Sam glanced down. “What’s in the envelope?”

 

Dean looked once more at Bobby before he lifted the large brown envelope he held and reached in. “Went down to Radiology,” he explained, “got some glamour shots.” He handed Sam the X-ray image. “Let’s just say the doctors are baffled.”

 

“Holy crap,” Sam said. He stared at the image of Dean’s ribs and the sigils inscribed on them. He put a hand to his own chest absentmindedly. He knew his ribs bore the same sigils, put there by Castiel, their fallen angel friend, to hide them from angels.

 

“Yeah, well, Cas carved you one too,” Dean said.

 

Sam’s cell phone rang just then. He handed Dean the X-ray image and pulled it from his pocket. “Hello?” he said into it.

 

“Sam, it’s me,” the voice on the other end said.

 

He knew that voice. “Castiel?”

 

“Speak of the devil,” Dean said.

 

“Where are you at?” Castiel asked.

 

“Uh, St. Martin’s Hospital. Why, what are you--?” he started but there was a click. “Cas?”

 

A few moments later, Castiel came striding around the corner. He stopped beside them.

 

“Cell phone, Cas? Really? Since when do angels need to reach out and touch someone?” Dean asked.

 

The reference went completely over Castiel’s head. “You’re hidden from angels now. All angels. I won’t be able to simply--,” he began, but was interrupted by Bobby.

 

“Enough foreplay,” the older man grouched. “Get over here and lay your damn hands on.”

 

Sam and the others stared at him.

 

“Get healing. Now,” Bobby ordered.

 

Sam glanced at Cas and was surprised to see the angel looked a little… sad.

 

“I can’t,” he said.

 

Bobby slowly turned his wheelchair so he was facing them. “Say again?” he said. There was a dangerous note to his voice that made Sam want to duck out of the line of fire.

 

Cas, undeterred by the threatening tone, stepped into the room. “I’m cut off from Heaven,” he explained, “much of Heaven’s power. Certain things I can do, certain things I can’t.”

 

“You’re telling me you lost your mojo just in time to get me stuck in this trap the rest of my life,” Bobby said, voice rising with each word. It wasn’t a question.

 

“I’m sorry,” Castiel said. And he sounded sorry. But Bobby didn’t seem to care.

 

“Shove it up your ass,” he replied. He wheeled back around to face the window.

 

“Well, at least he’s talking now,” Dean said to Sam.

 

“I heard that,” Bobby snapped.

 

Castiel took a breath and turned back around to the Winchesters. “I don’t have much time. We need to talk.” He stared intently at Dean.

 

“Okay.” Dean gestured for him to talk.

 

“Your plan to kill Lucifer—,” Cas started.

 

“Yeah, you wanna help?”

 

“No. It’s foolish. It can’t be done.”

 

 _Way to be direct,_ Sam thought to himself.

 

“Thanks for the support,” Dean shot at the angel.

 

“But I believe I have a solution,” Cas continued as if Dean hadn’t spoken. “There is someone, besides Michael, strong enough to take on Lucifer. Strong enough to stop the apocalypse.”

 

“Who’s that?” Sam asked.

 

Castiel looked at him. “The one who resurrected me and put you on that airplane. The one who began everything. God.”

 

Sam and Dean looked at him like he was crazy.

 

“I’m gonna find God,” Castiel declared.

 

Dean turned to Sam and jerked his chin, motioning him to step inside the room, and then he shut the door.

 

Turning to Cas, he said, “God?”

 

“Yes,” Cas replied.

 

“God.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Sam walked over next to Bobby as the conversation behind him continued.

 

“He isn’t in Heaven,” Cas went on. “He has to be somewhere.”

 

“Try New Mexico. I hear He’s on a tortilla,” Dean said.

 

Once again, the joke missed Castiel by miles. He shook his head. “No, He isn’t on any flatbread.”

 

Sam could see that his brother was losing patience. “Listen, chuckles, even if there is a God, He is either dead, and that’s the generous theory--.”

 

“He is out there, Dean,” Cas interjected insistently.

 

“—Or,” Dean continued determinedly, “He’s up and kicking and He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about any of us.”

 

Sam couldn’t see Castiel’s face, but he did see his spine straighten as the insult reached his ears. He could just imagine the glacial feel of his gaze right then. Dean, however, didn’t seem to notice, his own anger taking over as he ranted.

 

“I mean look around you, man. The world is in the toilet. We are literally at the end of days here, and He’s off somewhere, drinking booze out of a coconut,” Dean said, walking around Cas’s frozen form. “All right?”

 

Cas turned. “Enough,” he said. “This is not a theological issue. It’s strategic. With God’s help, we can win.”

 

“It’s a pipe dream, Cas,” Dean said, not letting up. Sam thought he should have, since even he could tell that Cas had reached his limit.

 

The angel stepped close to Dean, his voice lowering in silent anger. “I killed two angels this week,” Cas said. “Those are my brothers. I’m hunted. I rebelled, and I did it, all of it, for you, and you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world, and I lost everything for nothing.” Sam looked down as the truth hit home. “So keep your opinions to yourself.” Cas’s anger was so great that his voice almost shook on those last words.

 

Bobby, who had turned his wheelchair around again to watch the spectacle, spoke up. “You didn’t drop in just to tear us a new hole,” he said. “What is it you want?”

 

“I did come for something,” Cas said. He watched Dean for a moment before turning to Bobby. “An amulet.”

 

“An amulet?” Bobby repeated. “What kind?”

 

Dean turned sideways. He looked relieved that he wasn’t the focus of Cas’s anger anymore. Sam was just glad he’d stayed quiet.

 

“Very rare. Very powerful,” Cas said. “It burns hot in God’s presence. It’ll help me find Him.”

 

“What, like God emf?” Sam joked.

 

Cas nodded.

 

“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I got nothing like that,” Bobby said.

 

“I know. You don’t,” Cas said. Then he looked at Dean, and then down at the necklace Dean wore. The one Sam had given him so long ago.

 

Dean followed his gaze. “What? This?” he asked.

 

“May I borrow it?” Cas asked.

 

“No,” Dean said sharply and quickly.

 

“Dean, give it to me,” Cas said. His tone brooked no argument.

 

Dean was silent for a minute, but the force of Cas’s gaze seemed to be too much. “All right, I guess,” he said, lifting the cord up and over his head. He started to hand it to Cas, then stopped. “Don’t lose it.” Cas took it. The tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate some.

 

“Oh, great. Now I feel naked,” Dean muttered.

 

“I’ll be in touch,” Cas said. He paused a moment, looking between the three of them, and Sam wondered if he was going to say something else, but then he was gone.

 

Sam and Dean both sighed heavily.

 

“When you find God, tell Him to send legs,” Bobby called after Cas.

 

The quiet was interrupted once again by the ring of Bobby’s cell phone. “Hello?” he answered. Sam and Dean listened to Bobby’s side of the conversation. “I can’t hear you…. Where are you?... Colora — Colorado? River Pass, Colorado? Rufus? You there? Rufus.” Then they heard gunshots echo from the phone’s small speaker and the line went dead. Bobby whipped around to Sam and Dean. “Get your butts to River Pass, Colorado! Now!”

 

“What about you?” Sam asked.

 

“I’ll be fine. I’m not going anywhere! Now get!” Bobby practically chased them from the room.

 

*

 

The drive was long and they reached River Pass, Colorado early in the morning a couple days later. As they neared the bridge that was the only way in or out of the town, Dean was forced to stop. They got out of the car to find that the bridge was destroyed. It was completely demolished, as if a giant fist had fallen from the sky and smashed it down the middle. Dean kicked off a piece of the bridge.

 

“This is the only road in or out,” he said.

 

Sam checked his phone. “No signal.”

 

“Rufus was right. Demons got this place locked down,” Dean said.

 

“Looks like we’re hiking in,” Sam said.

 

“The hits just keep on coming,” Dean grumbled.

 

*

 

**Now**

 

Zahra had cloaked herself with the Force, so much so that she was, for all intents and purposes, invisible. She’d decided that, instead of finding Ellen and Jo, she would try to find whoever—or whatever—was behind this. “This” being whatever was making the humans in this town turn on one another.

 

She stalked through the town and paused when she heard music. She listened, not recognizing the song (obviously, though it was catchy), and then started forward again. She paused at the corner of a building and saw two men walking down the main street, both carrying shotguns. They were being cautious, looking under and over anything that could prove a hiding spot or a place for ambush. She trailed them, silently, staying several yards back. They wouldn’t notice her. One of them went over to one of the open-doored land speeders and fiddled with it. The music died. They passed the bright red land speeder she’d hid behind earlier, when the black-eyed people had been chasing her. She crept closer, then she paused when she noticed someone else coming up on the two men. She bit back a gasp when she recognized Ellen.

 

Ellen pulled her gun and cocked it. The two men whirled, then stopped when they saw her.

 

“Ellen?” the tall one said in obvious surprise.

 

“Hello, boys,” Ellen said.

 

Zahra relaxed slightly. Ellen knew them.

 

“Ellen, what the heck is going on here?” the other man asked as Ellen walked up. Zahra saw something in her hand just before the older woman splashed water on the man’s face. “We’re us,” he said irritably after a pause.

 

Ellen nodded, then led the two men away.

 

Zahra thought about going after them, but then she didn’t. She continued on her search, alone. It was better this way.

 

*

 

Dean was both happy to see Ellen and extremely confused. What was she doing here? And where was Jo? And Rufus?

 

Inside the small church, they passed over a demon trap spray painted just inside the door on the floor and a line of salt across the threshold that they were careful not to disturb.

 

Ellen paused and turned to them. Emotion thick in her voice, she said, “Real glad to see you, boys.” She hugged Dean tightly. Then she pulled back and slapped him. “The can of whoop-ass I ought to open on you. What, you can’t pick up a phone? What are you, allergic to giving me peace of mind? What, I gotta find out you’re alive from Rufus?”

 

“Sorry, Ellen,” Dean said, still dazed from the slap. She had a hard hand.

 

“Yeah, you better be,” Ellen snapped. “You better put me on speed dial, kid.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.” What else could he say?

 

Ellen looked at him, clearly fighting more emotion back. After a moment, she headed down the stairs. Dean shared a look with Sam and followed her.

 

“So, what’s going on, Ellen?” Dean asked.

 

“More than I can handle alone,” she said.

 

“How many demons are there?” Sam asked.

 

“Pretty much whole town minus the dead people and these guys,” she stopped and looked at them again. “So this it, right? End times. It’s gotta be.”

 

“Seems like it,” Sam said, after sharing another look with Dean.

 

Ellen nodded once, her face saying more than words ever could. Then she walked over to a pair of double doors and knocked. “It’s me.” Something slid on the door and Dean noticed a peephole had been recently drilled into it. Someone looked out, then the door opened.

 

Inside, there were ten ordinary people, even a pregnant woman and a preacher. Not exactly a fighting force, but at least one man had a rifle.

 

“This is Sam and Dean. They’re hunters here to help,” Ellen introduced them.

 

“You guys hip to this whole demon thing?” Rifle guy said.

 

“Yeah, are you?” Dean asked.

 

Another man answered. “My wife’s eyes turned black. She came at me with a brick. Kind of makes you embrace the paranormal.” Silence followed his words. The man drew his hand closer to his face and stared at the ring he wore.

 

Dean felt sorry for these people. They’d just woken up to the fact that the world was nothing like they’d imagined. It was a brutal wake-up call.

 

“All right, catch us up,” he said to Ellen.

 

“I doubt I know much more than you do,” she said. “Rufus called, said he was in town investigating omens. All of a sudden the whole town was possessed. Me and Jo were nearby—“

 

“You were hunting with Jo?” Dean interrupted, surprised. Last he’d heard Ellen had been completely against the idea of her daughter hunting.

 

“Yeah, for a while now,” Ellen said. “We got here and the place--. Well, the place was like you see it. Couldn’t find Rufus, then me, Jo and Zahra got separated.”

 

“Zahra?” Dean asked.

 

“A girl Jo and I met in the last town. Strange kid, wandering around without parents. Completely human, though, so don’t worry,” Ellen said. “She came with us; guess she didn’t have anything better to do. Anyway, I was out looking when I found you.”

 

Dean decided to put the issue of the strange girl (Come on, it was really weird that Ellen and Jo, of all people, would just invite some strange kid along.) aside for the moment. They had a town full of demons to think of first.

 

“Don’t worry. We’ll find them,” he said.

 

“Either way,” Sam said, “these people cannot just sit here, we gotta get them out, now.”

 

Ellen shook her head. “No, it’s not that easy. I’ve been trying. We already made a run for it once.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“There used to be twenty of us,” Ellen said.

 

 _Damn_ , Dean thought looking at the people again. _Damn_.

 

“Well, there’s three of us now,” he said.

 

“No, you don’t know what it’s like out there. Demons are everywhere. We won’t be able to cover everybody.”

 

“What if we get everyone guns?” Sam suggested.

 

“What, are you gonna arm up baby bump over here?” Dean asked.

 

“More salt we can fire at once, more demons we can keep away,” Sam pointed out.

 

Dean considered it and looked at the townspeople again. They didn’t look like much. But sometimes you had to go with what you had. “There’s a sporting goods store we passed on Main,” he said. “I bet they got guns.” He and Sam dropped their bags.

 

“All right. You stay. We’ll go,” Sam said to Ellen.

 

“What about--?” she began.

 

“If Jo and Rufus and this other girl are out there, we’ll bring them back,” Sam promised.

 

“What does she look like, the girl, Zahra?” Dean asked.

 

“Real pretty. Reddish hair, green eyes. Wearing a black jacket and a purple shirt,” Ellen said.

 

Dean nodded. With one last serious look exchanged between the three of them, he and Sam headed out.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dean said pulling Sam up short. “Hold on.” They stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Why don’t I just go?”

 

“What? Alone?” Sam asked.

 

“Well, yeah,” Dean said. “Somebody’s got to stay here and start giving them Shotgun 101.”

 

“Yeah. Ellen,” Sam replied with a hint of frustration.

 

Dean tried to keep his cool and sound logical. He stopped Sam again with a hand on his arm when he made to move up the stairs. “No, no, no. It’s gonna go a lot faster if you stay and help, okay?”

 

“While you get the guns and the salt and look for Jo, Rufus and Zahra? That’s stupid,” Sam argued.

 

“I can handle it,” Dean said straightening.

 

Sam looked at him and then realization dawned across his face. “You don’t want me going out there.”

 

“I didn’t say that,” Dean replied.

 

“Around demons,” Sam continued.

 

“I didn’t say that,” Dean repeated.

 

“Fine, then let’s go.” Sam went up the stairs.

 

Dean stood there a moment. _That could have gone better,_ he thought. Then he followed his brother up the stairs.

 

*

 

Zahra was in a store called the Quick-Mart, looking at the shelf of rock salt. She remembered Ellen saying that salt burned demons and they couldn’t cross it if it was laid across windowsills or door thresholds. But there were no demons in this town. There was something though, but Zahra hadn’t found out what yet. Every now and then, she would feel the dark side pulse through the town, but she was never able to pinpoint it. It was frustrating. She’d come into the Quick Mart to get something to eat. After spending most of the morning wandering the town, waiting for the flare in the dark side again, she’d decided to take a break.

 

The door opened and the bell dinged. Zahra ducked down, pulling the Force around her, and waited.

 

She recognized the man who rounded the corner. Tall, with longish hair and dark brown jacket, he was one of the men that Ellen seemed to know. He spotted the rock salt and made for it and Zahra moved out of his way. The shotgun he carried he placed on a neighboring shelf, and he fetched a white plastic bag from behind the counter. He began to fill it with the canisters of rock salt. Zahra bit her lip and pondered what to do. She didn’t want him to see her, but if she walked out the door, the noise of the bell would definitely draw his attention.

 

The door opened again and she and the man looked over to see two other young men come inside, both with black eyes. Alarm flared through the Force and Zahra glanced at Ellen’s friend. He looked at his shotgun, as one of the young men began to fill a bag with bottles of water.

 

Zahra watched the other man move through the store, filling a bag with various food items.

 

It happened so fast. Ellen’s friend grabbed his shotgun, knocking something from the shelf. The first young man turned and threw a bottle at him. Ellen’s friend ducked it and then he and the young man were fighting. The shotgun fell to the floor, and the young man began to choke Ellen’s friend.

 

Zahra took a step, her natural need to interfere and help almost overcoming her, but then she paused.

 

_Don’t get involved._

 

The words of that strange man from her dream echoed in her mind. _Don’t get involved._

 

Fear curled in Zahra’s chest and up her throat. She was frozen in place. What would he do, whoever that man was, if she interfered? Would he hurt Lowie? The droids? Destroy the ship? Would they be stuck on this world forever?

 

Just then, as Ellen’s friend struggled, the other young man came darting around the corner. Without thinking, Zahra sent a ball of Force energy at him and tripped him. He crashed to the ground, but the other two didn’t notice. Ellen’s friend pulled a knife and stuck the man he was fighting in the stomach. The assailant went down.

 

The second man got to his feet and came at Ellen’s friend with some sort of wooden bat. He soon joined his companion on the floor.

 

Ellen’s friend stood there panting for a moment. He looked down at the knife in his hand. Blood coated the blade and, as Zahra watched, backed into her corner with only the Force hiding her, he stroked the blade with his thumb. He lifted the blood covered appendage and looked at it for a long moment. She sensed the longing in him and wondered just what he was going to do.

 

She never found out, because the door opened once more. The man crouched down again, ready to take on a new opponent, but the man that entered filled him with ease… then shame.

 

“Sammy?” It was his companion, Zahra realized. She recognized him and his gruff voice.

 

Sammy straightened, his knife held at his side still dripping blood. His friend rounded the corner of the aisle and stopped when he saw the dead bodies. He looked up at Sammy in shock. He shook his head slightly and Zahra felt his disappointment and fear. Fear? Why should he be afraid of (she scanned them with the Force) his own brother?

 

She swallowed tightly, throat thick.

 

“Let’s go,” the man said, face stony.

 

“Dean,” Sammy started.

 

“I said, let’s go,” Dean replied. “Grab the salt. I’ve got the guns. We need to get back.” Not waiting for a reply, he turned and walked away.

 

In silence, Sammy cleaned the blade and stowed it away. He filled his bag with the salt and the two of them left.

 

Alone again, Zahra let out a shuddering breath, the knowledge of what she’d let happen weighing on her so heavily she sank to the floor. Then she shut her eyes and wept.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one responsible for the carnage in River Pass, Colorado is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. The first three paragraphs I added this past week. I felt I needed to give insight into Zahra's thoughts.

How could she have done it? No, how could she have allowed it? She knew -- of everyone in this town she knew -- there were no demons. She could have stopped Sammy from killing these boys. She could have revealed herself, and saved them and worried about the consequences later. But she hadn’t. She’d done nothing. She’d let them die.

 

Her mind flashed back to the sounds of screams filling the air as the night caught fire. Of being held back by strong, sturdy hands as she begged to be let go. Of one voice telling her that there was nothing that could be done to save the people as they burned. She had tried to kill the dragon Smaug and failed. Dwalin had been right: she could not have saved the people of Laketown. But here? These young men, boys really, could she have saved them? Yes. She could have. But she hadn’t. She had let her fear get the best of her. She had failed… the dead boys, Sammy and his brother Dean, but mostly herself. What did it mean that she was too afraid to step in when it mattered, when doing so could have spared innocent lives? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure she _wanted_ to know.

 

After some time (hours maybe? She had no way of knowing), her despair faded into a deep pulsing ache, and her mind cleared. Then she narrowed her eyes as she stared at the two bodies. Anger overcame the ache and she stood. She left the store, trying not to think about what she’d left behind in it and went in search of the one responsible for this town’s self-destruction. She would find whoever was behind this. And she would end them.

 

*

 

There was a bustle of motion in the church around Dean. People were removing the shotgun pellets and replacing them with salt. The cartridges were then loaded into the guns. Roger, the man whose wife had nearly brained him with a brick, fumbled a cartridge, dropping it, and then picked it back up, only to drop it again. Dean shook his head. These people weren’t fighters. They were just ordinary people. Sam and Ellen were busy giving a few of them lessons on using the guns, but Dean wondered how much it would help.

 

“Know your way around a gun at all?” he asked Austin, the man who’d opened the door for Ellen earlier. Dean held out a rifle to him.

 

Austin took it. Dean watched, silently impressed, as Austin stripped down his rifle quickly.

 

“Hm. Where’d you serve?” Dean asked.

 

“Fallujah,” Austin replied. “Two tours. Got back little over a year ago. Takes one to know one. Where’d you serve?”

 

“Hell,” Dean replied.

 

“Heh. No, seriously?” Austin asked.

 

“Seriously. Hell,” Dean answered. He forced down the memories that threatened to rise and looked at the suddenly uncomfortable soldier. Dean left him and went to sit beside Sam, who was taking a break. “Hey.”

 

“Hey,” Sam said.

 

Dean looked over at him and noticed the frown on his brother’s face. “What’s wrong?”

 

Sam took his time answering, seeming to formulate a response. “Just… at the store, those demons were possessing teenagers. I mean, I had to slit some kid’s throat.”

 

“Come on, Sam. You had to,” Dean replied. He didn’t like it anymore than Sammy did, but it was the job. They couldn’t always exorcise the demons. Sometimes, they had to take drastic actions.

 

“I know. It just… It used to be like--,” he stopped and shook his head. “I just wish I could save people like I used to.”

 

“What do you mean, when you were all hopped up on demon blood?” Dean asked, incredulous. And angry.

 

“I didn’t say that,” Sam said.

 

Dean didn’t get to hear what Sam meant, though, because Ellen came over. “I’ll be back,” she said without preamble.

 

“Where are you going?” he asked her.

 

“I can’t sit here on my ass,” Ellen said. “My daughter’s out there somewhere, and a girl who is probably scared out of her mind. If I’m not back in half an hour, go. Get these people out of here.”

 

“No, wait.” Sam said as he and Dean stood. “I’ll go with you.”

 

“Oh, hold on,” Dean interrupted. “Can I talk to you for a second?” He led Sam out of the room to the stairwell. “Would you go out there again?”

 

“Well, crap doesn’t hit the fan with breaks,” Sam pointed out.

 

“I’ll go,” Dean said. He didn’t want Sam out there.

 

“It’s fine. Stay, get them ready,” Sam said. “I’ll cover Ellen.”

 

“Why does it gotta be you?”

 

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot.” Sam scoffed. “You think I’ll take one look at a demon and suddenly fall off the wagon, as if after everything, I haven’t learned my lesson.”

 

“Well, have you?”

 

Anger morphed Sam’s features. He grabbed Dean and slammed him back into the wall. Dean stared at him in shock.

 

“If you actually think I—.” Sam stopped. They stared at each other for a tense moment, then Sam went back into the room.

 

Dean followed. The others were watching them, Ellen most of all. Dean avoided eye contact with her. Sam grabbed his shot gun and motioned for Ellen. They left, and Dean didn’t try to stop them.

 

*

 

“So, where’d you see them last?” Sam asked Ellen as they walked through the town.

 

“Up ahead,” Ellen answered. After a second, she asked, “So, what’s up with you and Dean?” Sam looked at her, surprised. “It’s hard not to notice how different things are between you guys these days.” Sam didn’t answer. “Had a bad road there, huh? What happened, some girl come between you or something?” She wasn’t far off the mark with that statement.

 

“Just stresses of the job. You know how it is,” Sam said. He changed the subject. “Kind of surprised, you and Jo hunting. Weren’t you always saying she couldn’t hack the life?”

 

“She can’t,” Ellen said, matter-of-factly. “But if she’s gonna do it anyway….”

 

“You’re gonna keep an eye on her,” Sam finished, understanding. “And the other girl, Zahra? You said you just met her in the previous town. And she came with you? Here?”

 

Ellen shrugged. “There’s something about her… I don’t know.”

 

“I thought you said she was human?”

 

“She is. We bought her dinner and filled her water glass with holy water when she went to the bathroom, traded her silverware for real silver, too. She drank the water and picked up the fork and knife and nothing happened,” Ellen said.

 

“Come on, Ellen, you know silver and holy water doesn’t work on every creature,” Sam said.

 

“Yes, I know,” Ellen replied. “But… I can’t put my finger on it.” She looked up at him. “She’s a good girl. Good person. I do think she’s strange, and she doesn’t give much away when questioned, but she’s alone, and afraid. She made me think of Jo, and I—I guess it was my motherly instinct kicking in. I couldn’t turn her away.”

 

Sam nodded.

 

“We’ve got to find her, Sam. I won’t forgive myself if anything happens to that girl because I let her tag along with me and Jo,” Ellen said.

 

“If you knew it was dangerous, why’d you let her come?”

 

Ellen looked thoughtful. “It was the right thing to do,” she said with conviction.

 

The words hung between them for a moment, before Sam noticed something up ahead.

 

“Hey.” He pointed at the smoke rising above the trees.

 

“Is that a chimney going?” Ellen asked.

 

“Looks like it,” Sam answered. “Come on.” They made their way down the street and to a large two story house with a tall fence surrounding it. It was, indeed, a chimney that was smoking. He and Ellen exchanged a glance and crept closer, keeping out of sight of windows, just in case. They came up the side of the garage and peeked around it.

 

Sam spotted a man pass in front of a window. His eyes were black.

 

“Guess we found base camp,” Ellen muttered.

 

Sam looked at the house, at the man that disappeared from view again, and at the chimney, smoking away. This didn’t make sense. “Demons don’t get cold,” he replied. “Makes you wonder what they’re burning.”

 

He started forward, but Ellen’s scream brought him around. Jo stood there with black eyes. A demon had Ellen pinned to the wall of the garage. That was all he could see before another demon was on him.

 

“Don’t move, you evil skank,” Jo shouted.

 

Sam was getting the shit beat out of him by a demon, but he had enough presence of mind to wonder, _Huh?_

 

The other male demon joined the fight and Jo pinned Ellen to the wall. “Don’t you hurt her, don’t you—,” Ellen pleaded.

 

“Give me my mom back, you black-eyed bitch,” Jo snarled.

 

Ellen used her shotgun to break away and knock Jo out.

 

Sam knocked a demon down. “Ellen, run!”

 

He cocked his gun, prepared to fire, but then something struck him in the back of his head. He went down, darkness clouding his vision. It cleared long enough for him to look up at Rufus’s face, the older man’s eyes black with possession.

 

“Got you now, you bastard,” Demon Rufus said.

 

Sam’s head dropped down. His last thought was that he hoped Ellen got out of there.

 

*

 

Zahra wandered the town, probing with the Force. She was tired and still hungry, but her anger provided ready fuel. As she passed a small white building with a steeple, she saw Ellen race across the neighboring lawns and hurry into it. A few seconds later, a man in a suit with a red tie and glasses crept out. He looked around warily. Seeing no one, a smile spread across his face and he sauntered off like he didn’t have a care in the world.

 

Zahra narrowed her eyes and followed him.

 

*

 

Dean walked around the room, his body taut with unreleased energy. Ellen and Sam had been gone for about twenty minutes. He hated that he was stuck here, listening to the preacher recite scripture to his frightened flock. He wanted to be out there, looking for Jo and Rufus and Zahra. What he wanted most of all was for Sam to be here instead of him.

 

There was a knock at the door and the preacher stopped talking. Dean went over and moved the bingo card used to cover the peephole out of the way. He looked out. Ellen. He unbarred the door and opened it, letting her in.  
“Where’s Sam?” he asked, realizing his brother wasn’t with her.

 

Ellen set her gun on the table and looked at him. She shook her head. Dean’s heart froze. _No._

 

“They took him?” the pregnant woman (Dean hadn’t caught her name) asked. “Demons took him?”

 

Ellen sat and another woman set a bottle of water beside her. She didn’t answer the frantic woman behind her.

 

“Oh, my God. What if they’re in here? The demons?”

 

“Could they get in?” the preacher asked Dean.

 

“No,” he answered quietly. He looked down and then picked up his shotgun. “Everybody sit tight, I gotta--.” He walked to the door and paused. He looked around at them, taking in the frightened faces turned desperately to him. These people needed guidance otherwise they’d panic and do something that got them killed. Dammit. Dean couldn’t leave them. He looked at his hand on the doorknob. Sam was out there. Demons had him. But Dean couldn’t leave these people. _Fuck._

 

He walked back over to the table. “We need to get a plan together. Tell me everything,” he said to Ellen.

 

With shaking hands and steady voice, she told him about the house, the demons, and the scuffle that had led to Sam being taken.

 

He sat across from her and listened, everyone else had moved off, leaving the hunters to talk.

 

“Dean, one of them’s in Jo. We gotta get it out without hurting her,” Ellen finished. She laughed. “It called me a bitch.”

 

“Bruising a little easy, don’t you think?”

 

“Oh, it’s not what I meant,” Ellen said. “It called me a black-eyed bitch. What kind of demons are these? Holy water and salt roll right off. My daughter may be an idiot, but she’s not stupid. She wears an anti-possession charm. It’s all kind of weird, right?”  
Dean shook his head once, thinking. “The whole thing’s off.”

 

“What’s your instinct?”

 

“My instinct? My instinct is to call Bobby and ask for help or Sam,” Dean said.

 

“Well, tough. All you got’s me and all I’ve got’s you. So let’s figure it out,” Ellen commanded.

 

Dean bit back a smile.”All right,” he said. Ellen spotted his amusement and smiled.

 

“Do you know why Rufus came to town?” Dean asked. “Was there a specific omen?”

 

“He said something about water. That’s all I know.”

 

Dean looked around and spotted the preacher. “Padre, you know what she’s talking about? The water?”

 

“The river ran polluted, all of a sudden,” was the reply.

 

“When?”

 

“Last Wednesday,” Austin supplied. “The demon thing started up the next day.”

 

“Anything else? Anything?”

 

“Maybe, but it’s pretty random,” Austin said.

 

“Good. Random’s good. “

 

“Shooting star. Does that count? Real big. Same night, Wednesday.”

 

Dean felt a terrible foreboding in his gut. “Well, that definitely counts.” He stood, walked to a bookshelf and grabbed a Bible.

 

“So, uh, you think all this comes from outer space?” Austin asked to fill the tense silence.

 

“This isn’t _X-Files_ , pal,” Dean said, retaking his seat. He flipped through the pages at the back of the Bible until he found what he was looking for and began to read it aloud. “‘And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood. And many men died.’” He looked up at Ellen.

 

“Revelation 8:10,” the preacher exclaimed. “Are you saying that this is about the apocalypse?” His disbelief was evident.

 

Dean looked at him. “You could say. These specific omens, they’re a prelude to what?”

 

“The four horsemen,” the preacher answered.

 

“And which one rides the red horse?”

 

“War.”

 

Dean looked at Ellen “That cherry-red Mustang parked on Main?” She nodded in agreement.

 

The preacher spoke up. “You can’t think that a car is—.”

 

“It’s the way I’d roll,” Dean interrupted. “I mean, think about it.” He stood. “It all makes sense. If War’s a dude and he’s here, maybe he’s messing with our heads.”

 

“Turning us on each other,” Ellen said.

 

“You said Jo called you a black-eyed bitch. They think we’re demons. We think they’re demons. What if there are no demons at all? We’re all just killing each other.”

 

“Wait, just, back up,” the preacher said. “It’s the apocalypse?” He clearly couldn’t wrap his head around it.

 

“Sorry, padre,” Dean said, with a half-shrug. He sat back down and left the preacher to come to terms with it.

 

*

 

Sam was exhausted. When he’d come to he’d found himself tied to a chair in the middle of a devil’s trap. Jo and Rufus had begun to try and exorcise him. They thought he was possessed. But, weren’t they the one’s possessed? He’d choked on the holy water and salt they’d poured down his throat. It left a foul taste in his mouth and his throat ached and burned.

 

And then there was Roger. Skulking by the door, the man had lifted his hand and turned his ring on his finger. After that, Rufus and Jo had gone at Sam with gusto. But when no demon had gone shooting out of his mouth, Jo and Rufus had, grudgingly and confusedly, called it quits.

 

And here came Roger again. Sam had seen enough. This wasn’t Roger. This was something else. A super-powered demon, perhaps? Whatever he was, Sam was going to find out.

 

“Who the hell are you?” Sam asked when Roger stepped in.

 

Roger removed his glasses. The look on his face said he was taking a great deal of pleasure from the day’s events.

 

“What are you?” Sam corrected himself.

 

Roger grinned. “You caught me. Popped in to watch. I can hustle like that.”

 

“So, the Roger everyone around here knows, the real Roger?” Sam pressed.

 

“Buried in a ditch.”

 

Sam nodded. _Of course_ , he thought. He rolled his eyes. “So who are you?”

 

Roger shut the door and moved a chair so it was in front of Sam. He sat, crossed his legs and leaned back. “Here’s a hint,” he said. “I was in Germany. Then in Germany. Then in the Middle East. I was in Darfur when my beeper went off. I’m waiting to meet up with my siblings. I’ve got three. We’re going to have so much fun together.”

 

The pieces clicked into place. This was War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

 

“I know who you are,” Sam said nodding. “There aren’t any demons in town, are there?”

 

“Nope,” War said. “Just frightened people ripping each other’s throats out. I really haven’t had to do too much. Take out a bridge here, lay in a little hallucination there, sit back, pop some corn, watch the show. Frankly, you’re really vicious little animals, Sam.”

 

“No. You’re doing this.”

 

War scoffed. “Please. Last week, this was Mayberry. Now these people are stabbing each other’s children.”

 

“’Cause you made them see demons!” Sam insisted.

 

“Honestly, people don’t need a reason to kill each other. I mean, you seen the Irish? They’re all Irish.”

 

Sam rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. A floorboard creaked off to his left and he looked over but saw nothing. War glanced to the side. After a moment he continued talking. “You think I’m a monster,” he said. “I’m jello shots at a party. I just remove inhibitions.”

 

“I’m gonna kill you myself,” Sam swore.

 

War laughed at him. “Oh, that’s adorable, considering you’re my poster boy.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“You can’t stop thinking about it ever since you saw it dripping off the blade of that knife,” War goaded him. Sam’s breathing increased, out of fear or anger, he couldn’t tell.

 

“You’re wrong,” he said.

 

“Save your protests for your bother. I can see inside your head. And man, it is one-track city in there. Blood, blood, blood. Lust for power. Same as always. You want to be stronger. But not just strong. Stronger than everybody. Good intentions—quick slide into hell, buddy boy. You feel bad now? Wait till you’re thigh deep in warm corpses. Because, my friend, I’m just getting started.” With that, War stood and put his glasses back on. “Showtime for the meatsuits. Watch this.”

 

He twisted his ring and a trail of blood began to slide down his forehead. He kicked his chair over and dropped to the floor with a scream of pain.

 

Sam jumped when Rufus and Jo burst into the room. War looked up at them.

 

“He did it!” War pointed at Sam.

 

“No!” Sam shook his head.

 

“He said they’re coming! He said they’re coming to get us!” War cried over him.

 

“No, stop! Jo, Rufus, he’s lying! No!

 

“You shut your mouth!” Rufus shouted.

 

“Please! Jo! He’s lying!” Sam’s head jerked when Rufus back-handed him. He turned back in time to see War grinning at him from the door before disappearing through it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conclusion to River Pass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter. I had fun writing it. Especially a little scene towards the end between our heroine and a certain Horseman.

Dean was losing patience with these people and quickly.

 

“So, now you’re saying that there are no demons and that War is a guy,” Austin asked.

 

“You believed crazy before,” Dean said. A hammering at the door interrupted him before he could continue.

 

“Open up! It’s Roger!”

 

Austin checked and then let the man in. He was breathing hard, like he’d been running, his eyes wide with fear.

 

“I saw them! The demons! They know we’re trying to leave. They said they’re gonna pick us off one by one,” Roger exclaimed.

 

“Wait, wait, wait.” Dean held up his hands. “What?”

 

“I thought you said there were no demons,” Austin said.

 

“There’s not,” Dean said. He looked back at Roger. “Where did you go?”

 

“I thought someone should go out and see what’s going on!” Roger said.

 

“Where did you see the demons and what did they say exactly?” Something wasn’t right here. Dean wasn’t sure what but he wasn’t buying what Roger was selling.

 

“We just sit here, we’re going to be dead,” Austin said.

 

“No, we’re not.”

 

“They’re gonna kill us unless we kill them first,” Roger insisted.

 

“Hold on. Hold on.”

 

“No, man, we got people to protect. All right, the able-bodied go hunt some demons,” Austin declared. He picked up a shotgun and handed it to another man.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow your roll. This is not a demon thing,” Dean insisted. Then he saw Roger hold up his hand. He twisted the ring he wore and then pointed at Dean and Ellen.

 

“Look at their eyes! They’re demons!” Roger yelled.

 

The pregnant woman screamed and the preacher raised a shotgun. No time to mess around then.

 

“Go, go!” Dean shouted at Ellen. They turned and ran. Someone fired after them (Dean bet it was Austin) but it hit the door. He and Ellen ducked and kept going. He faintly heard–or thought he heard –a grunt behind him but didn’t have time to turn and check. “Run!” he shouted at Ellen. Out on the street, they didn’t stop until they’d put some distance between them and the church.

 

“Now what?” Ellen asked, panting.

 

“Roger is War,” Dean said. “Freaking Horseman of the Apocalypse!”

 

Ellen nodded. “So how do we stop him?”

 

“I don’t know,” he said. He narrowed his eyes and looked back the way they’d come. “We gotta convince Rufus and Jo that we’re not possessed.”

 

“Well, how do we do that, genius?” Ellen demanded to know.

 

Dean sighed and ran a hand over his face. He looked up the street. He could just see the chimney smoke from where they stood. “I got an idea. Come on,” he said. He and Ellen moved on.

 

*

 

They headed for the house that Rufus and Jo were at. Dean didn’t bother for subtlety. Knowing Rufus, the man would have probably rigged something up at the front windows. When he stepped onto the porch, he glanced in. Pipe bombs. _Good ol’ Rufus_ , he thought. He turned to Ellen.

 

“There’s pipe bombs attached to the windows,” he said to her in an undertone. “You go around back and get Jo. I’ll blow the bombs and get to Rufus.”

 

“This is a terrible plan,” Ellen muttered, but she went around the back of the house anyway.

 

Dean hurried from the porch and looked around. There were bricks lining the small garden out front. He picked one up and tossed it, shattering the window and-- BOOM! There went the bombs.

 

Dean jumped over the porch railing and stood to the side of the blown-out windows, waiting. When Rufus’s dark face appeared, Dean reached up and grabbed him, slamming the older man down. Then he pulled him up and pushed him into the side of the house.

 

“Listen to me. I am not a demon,” Dean said. He knew his eyes must appear demon black, just as Rufus’s appeared to him. But it was all an illusion. “Think, Rufus. All those omens.”

 

“You go to hell!” Rufus challenged. He kneed Dean in the groin and then punched him in the face. _For an older guy, he sure is spry_ , Dean thought as he staggered back.

 

He turned in time to see Rufus look at his fallen gun. He threw himself at it, but Dean grabbed him and pinned him back against the wall.

 

“Rufus! The polluted water, the shooting star, the red Mustang?” Dean shook him. “It’s War. I’m telling you it’s War!”

 

“Your damn right it is,” Rufus growled. He punched Dean, made for his gun again, and Dean pinned him to the porch.

 

“The horseman!” Dean shouted.

 

“Horseman?” Rufus blinked at him.

 

“Yes,” Dean looked at Rufus, the man’s eyes were normal again. “He’s turning us against each other. You’re hallucinating.”

 

Rufus looked away, shook his head and then looked back at Dean. Dean knew the instant the illusion faded for Rufus. “Horseman. War.”

 

“Yes,” Dean said.

 

Rufus looked from side to side. “Did you figure this out all by yourself, genius?”

 

Dean sighed and then helped him up. They hurried inside where Jo and Ellen were. Ellen turned and raised her shotgun at them.

 

“Whoa, whoa,” Dean cautioned.

 

“We all on the same page?” Ellen asked.

 

Dean nodded. “Good.” He looked at Jo. “Hi, Jo.”

 

“Hey,” she said.

 

“Okay,” Dean continued. “We gotta find War before everybody in this town gets—.” The rapport of a gun cut him off and the four hunters ducked down, lifting their weapons. This had to be Austin and those other mooks from the church. “Damn it! Where’s Sam?”

 

“Upstairs,” Rufus said. Dean hurried off to find his brother.

 

*

 

Zahra stood atop the roof of the house next door. She’d seen Ellen and Dean headed this way and decided to follow. She’d watched as Dean blew the windows, and dragged out Rufus, eventually convincing his friend that there were no demons. They then disappeared inside.

 

Something caught her attention and she narrowed her eyes at the people that were hurrying up the street carrying weapons. Zahra touched her thigh gingerly as the people took up positions outside the house, the bullet wound more of a graze than anything else, but it still hurt. She’d torn off the bottom of her shirt to wrap around her thigh in a make-shift bandage. She wasn’t sure who had fired the shotgun after Ellen and Dean, but she was glad she’d been standing on the stairs when it punctured the door and had only gotten winged when the pellet ricocheted. And then her eyes landed on the one responsible for all this: War.

 

She’d followed him to this place earlier that day, listened in as he taunted Sammy. All the things he’d said roiled in her mind. Humans were better than he deemed them. Didn’t take much to turn them on one another? Perhaps that was true, on this world. But Zahra knew that, at least in her galaxy, that wasn’t always the case. She hated this being, whatever he was. What was it Dean had called him? Horseman of the Apocalypse? She didn’t know what that meant. What she did know was that he was going to completely destroy this town. All these innocent people who thought they were fighting against evil, but were just killing each other, were going to be killed unless he was stopped.

 

When the shooting started, Zahra sat on the edge of the roof and closed her eyes. She reached out to the Force, letting her will direct the bullets from both sides off target so that no one was wounded. She felt around in the house and touched Jo, Ellen, Rufus, Sammy, Dean, and the few other townspeople inside.

 

Don’t get involved? Screw that. She’d sat on the sidelines for long enough. Doing so had cost the lives of innocent people and for what? Because she had been afraid. She had let her fear stop her from helping. She could have stopped Sammy from killing those boys. But she hadn’t. She would have to atone for that someday. But right now, these people needed her. She was a Jedi, a preserver of innocent life. She would save these people as well as she could without revealing herself.

 

And then, she would go after War.

 

*

 

Dean hurried upstairs and began opening doors looking for Sam. The third door he opened was the one. Sam was inside, tied to a chair in the middle of a devil’s trap.

 

“Dean, it’s not demons!” Sam said as soon as he saw him.

 

“It’s War,” they said together.

 

“Yes,” Dean said, hurrying around to undo his brother’s bindings. “I just can’t figure out how he’s doing it.” Dean cut the ropes with his pocket knife.

 

“The ring,” Sam told him.

 

“The ring.” Dean repeated, realization hitting him. “The ring! That’s right! He turned it before he made everyone hallucinate me going hell-bitch.”

 

“Right,” Sam said. He shook off the last of his bindings and stood.

 

“Let’s move. Come on.” Dean grabbed Sam’s arm and hauled him down the stairs.

 

*

 

These people were determined to kill something, Zahra thought to herself. She sensed Sammy and Dean together and then leaving the house. They were going to go after War. She bit her lip. Standing again, Zahra opened her eyes. Ellen was coming around the far side of the house. The others hadn’t noticed her yet. Rufus and Jo were inside trying to get the others to stop firing. None of them seemed to notice that their shots were going far off the mark.

 

Zahra built the Force around her in a bubble and then sent it out with the intensity of a shockwave, knocking everyone, even Ellen and Jo and Rufus, off their feet. Guns clattered to the ground. Zahra felt the dazed shock of the townspeople and the frightened confusion of Ellen, Jo and Rufus. She knew that they probably thought this was either War’s doing, or something else. Too bad they would never know.

 

Zahra jumped from the house and sought out War. He wasn’t bothering to hide himself from detection anymore: the dark side of the Force pulsed around him like a beacon. He had left the battlefield and was heading back through town. Jaw set in determination, Zahra raced off after him.

 

He was moving towards his land speeder, the bright red one she had hidden behind that morning. Zahra dropped the Force from concealing her and War stopped in his tracks. He turned slowly and stared at her a moment before smirking.

 

“I thought I felt something odd here,” he said.

 

“Odder than you, you mean?” she asked.

 

He shrugged. He’d removed his glasses again. “What the hell are you doing here anyway?” he asked.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You’re a Jedi, kid; you don’t belong on this world.”

 

It surprised her that he knew what she was, but she didn’t have time to ask: Sammy and Dean would be arriving soon. “I’m just passing through,” she said.

 

War raised an eyebrow at her. He didn’t believe her. “Well, whatever. If you’re thinking you can stop this, you’re wrong. The Apocalypse is already underway. There’s no stopping it.”

 

“I don’t have to stop it,” she said. “I just have to stop you.”

 

War laughed at her. “Really? After all this time, you pick now to stop me?”

 

She didn’t answer.

 

War’s smile was sinister, sending cold dread through her stomach. “You could have stopped Sam Winchester from killing those boys. You didn’t.”

 

“No, I didn’t,” she agreed, solemn. “And I will regret that forever. But I learned from it. I won’t let you bring death and ruin upon these people.”

 

“Kid, don’t you think you’re a little late? I mean, look around! Look at this town! Look at these people! Death and ruin has already come!”

 

“Yes, I got here too late. I intervened too late. I let fear hold me back, but no longer.” Zahra took a step forward. “No longer,” she repeated.

 

“And it’s that fear that will continue to hold you back. You let the darkness win once,” he said, moving closer. “Remember that? The heat of battle, oh, you relished it. Anger surging, hate boiling, and you gave in to the darkness inside. You choked them to death.” He was right in front of her, head bent close, right by her ear, breath stirring her hair. “You and Sam are two peas in a pod. You both deny the power you seek, but innocent blood is still spilt at your hands. Do you deny it?”

 

Zahra was frozen, her heart hammering, her blood turned to ice in her veins. Did she deny it? She remembered. The orcs, those she’d choked with the Force in a move only a Sith would do.

 

“I do not deny it,” she whispered. She looked War in the eyes. “Nor do I deny that the darkness still haunts me and tempts me. But I will fight it. To my last breath if need be.” The conviction in her voice was unwavering. But her heart quailed at the thought of never feeling that power again. “And those orcs were beings of darkness just like you; hardly innocent.”

 

War smirked at her. “You’re going to cause some people a great deal of trouble,” he said.

 

“Perhaps,” she said. “Too bad you won’t be there to see it.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at her.

 

“You can’t kill War, kid,” he said.

 

She held out a hand. “Oh, I know,” she replied.

 

She called the Force to her, and pushed War back. He slammed into his land speeder, his arms splaying out on either side of him. Her lightsaber flew into her hand from behind her back and she ignited it as she leaped toward him. “I’ve been following you, War,” she said to him as he stared at her with wide eyes. “I was in that room when you and Sam had your little talk. You both looked right at me, but didn’t see me. And I was there when you turned those people on Ellen and Dean. I got shot because of you. I know how you’re controlling these people. How you’ll control others. I won’t let you.”

 

War laughed again. He was still laughing when she cut his fingers from his right hand, the ring he wore falling to the ground with a soft clink. His laughter faded as he and his land speeder vanished.

 

Alone in the street, Zahra looked down at the ring. She knelt and reached out for it, but then stopped. Darkness clung to this ring. Less than to War, merely a soft echo, but still, Zahra could not bring herself to pick it up. She knew that if she did, it would cause her irreparable harm. So, instead, she stood and walked away from it.

 

“Hey!” a voice called out behind her.

 

 _Don’t turn around,_ she thought, but of course she did. Sam and Dean Winchester stood on the opposite side of the street. They were both staring at her with looks of shock on their faces. Damn! Her eyes went to Dean who had been the one to call after her. Their gazes met, locked, and held… for a moment. Then, without pausing to see what they wanted, she turned and ran.

 

*

 

Dean bent and picked up War’s ring. It was stained with blood. He looked after the girl who had cut it from the horseman. He couldn’t quite believe what he’d seen. He and Sam had seen her just appear out of thin air and had ducked behind another car to see what she and War would do. What they hadn’t expected was for her to defeat War on her own. Or for her to do it with something that strangely resembled a lightsaber. Just who was she?

 

“Sam, I don’t think we should tell the others about this,” Dean said.

 

“What? Why not?” Sam asked.

 

“You saw what I did! Who’s going to believe that?” Dean replied. He pointed after the girl who was long gone.

 

“Hunters,” Sam said, but it was clear he wasn’t sure. He was frowning, clearly not fully grasping what they’d seen.

 

“All the same,” Dean said. Hell, Dean wasn’t even sure if he believed it and he had seen it too.

 

Sam nodded. “You think this has to do with that UFO?” he asked after a long, long pause.

 

Dean met his eyes. Neither was willing to voice the theory they were both forming. It was way too incredible, too unbelievable, to be true. And yet….

 

“Doesn’t matter,” Dean said after another pause. “We’ve got enough on our plate with the Apocalypse without having to worry about… _her_.”

 

Sam nodded in agreement. They started off down the street, ready to tell Ellen, Jo and Rufus that War was gone. The only good thing to come out of the day as far as Dean was concerned.

 

*

 

Dean and Sam were preparing to leave. Jo and Ellen and Rufus had decided to stay behind, to help with the clean up. The phone lines were working again, and calls were being made to local and state authorities. The remaining townspeople had decided to keep the truth of what had happened a secret as much as possible. Dean didn’t know what story they were spinning, and he didn’t want to. He had bigger things on his mind.

 

Ellen and Jo had looked for the girl they’d come with, Zahra Rivers, but could find no trace of her. Even her backpack was missing from their car. In its place was the shotgun Ellen said she’d given her. They’d found blood drops by the car but nothing else. Was the girl he and Sam had seen defeat War Zahra Rivers? She certainly matched the description Ellen had given them.

 

Dean gathered his backpack and shotgun. War’s ring felt heavy in his jacket pocket.

 

“Sure we can’t convince you to stick around?” Jo asked.

 

Dean looked at her and smiled. “Nah, me and Sammy have got to hit the road,” he said. “The Apocalypse won’t stop itself.”

 

Jo smiled, and there was that edge of sadness that was always present when she looked at him. “Too bad,” she said. She patted his arm and moved to say bye to Sam. Dean watched her for a moment and then headed out.

 

Ellen and Rufus were waiting outside the church.

 

“Tell Bobby I’ll see him soon,” Rufus said. He shook Dean’s hand, then Sam’s, who had followed him with Jo.

 

“I will,” Dean promised.

 

“You boys learn to pick up a phone every once in a while,” Ellen told them. “And don’t be strangers.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Dean said. He hugged her, then Jo, lingering a little longer than necessary, before he and Sammy headed out of town. The bridge had repaired itself after War had gone, so at least he and Sam didn’t have to hike out. They stowed their gear and climbed into the Impala. Dean turned her around and they drove off.

 

A few hours later, they stopped at a road side rest stop. They ate the lunch they’d grabbed at a drive through and sat at a picnic table.

 

When they were finished, Dean pulled out War’s ring. “So, pit stop at Mount Doom?” he joked half-heartedly.

 

Sam smirked, but his heart wasn’t in it either. There had been a tension between them ever since the confrontation at the church. Dean didn’t like it. But he knew it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

 

After a moment, Sam began to speak. “Dean—.”

 

“Sam, let’s not,” he interrupted.

 

“No, listen. This is important. I know you don’t trust me. Just… now I realize something.”

 

Dean looked away, rolling his eyes and stared at the ring on the table.

 

“I don’t trust me either.”

 

Dean looked up at that.

 

“From the minute I saw that blood, the only thought in my head….” He stopped and then continued. “And then I tell myself it’s for the right reasons. My intentions are good and it feels true, you know? But I think underneath… I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am. Thing is, the problem’s not the demon blood. Not really. I mean, I—What I did? I can’t blame the blood or Ruby… or anything. The problem’s me. How far I’ll go. There’s something in me that scares the hell out of me, Dean. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse.”

 

Dean had stayed silent, letting Sam say his piece, but now he spoke. “So, what are you saying?”

 

“I’m in no shape to be hunting,” Sam said. Dean looked away again, the pain of his brother’s words, and their truth, like a stab in the heart. “I need to step back because I’m dangerous. Maybe it’s best we just go our separate ways.”

 

Dean nodded. He closed his eyes as if to brace himself for what he was about to say. “Well, I think you’re right.”

 

Sam looked at him sharply, clearly not expecting an easy agreement and Dean met his gaze. “I was expecting a fight,” Sam said.

 

“Truth is, I spend more time worrying about you than about doing the job right,” Dean replied. “I just… I can’t afford that, you know? Not now.” Not now with the apocalypse coming at them. Not now with a strange girl on the loose who wielded something similar to a lightsaber from _Star_ _Wars_. What the hell was that? Who the hell was she? It didn’t matter at the moment, though.

 

Sam nodded. “I’m sorry, Dean.”

 

“I know you are, Sam.”

 

They sat at the picnic table for a few more minutes. Then Sam started to stand. Dean wanted to say something, anything, to let his brother know he still cared. “Hey, uh, you wanna take the Impala?”

 

Sam smiled a little. “That’s okay.”

 

Dean worked his mouth and nodded, looking down again.

 

Sam stood. He stopped a moment and Dean looked up. “Take care of yourself, Dean.”

 

Dean nodded. “Yeah, you too, Sammy.”

 

Sam went to the car, lifting his backpack from the back seat. Dean watched as he walked over to a truck with a trailer attached and spoke to the driver. Then he got in and they drove off.

 

Dean stayed seated at the picnic table the whole time, fingers on War’s ring. And he let his brother go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to catch up to myself, so there may not be any more updates for a little while. Sorry. ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra makes it back to the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'll be honest with you guys. I haven't really written much the past few weeks. I've started back to school (college) after a three and a half year hiatus and I've been a little preoccupied. I do not intend to give up on this story, but updates may become even more infrequent because of it and also because I've hit a wall. Surprising since most of the material is there for me (Supernatural season 5) but Zahra's bits while much more fun to write, are also a little bit harder. I'm trying to figure out how to get her and the brothers together permanently, but it may not happen any time soon. Sorry for that, but it is what it is. 
> 
> Also, Zahra's dreams will play a significant role over the next few chapters, so if you don't like them, I'm sorry. Bear with me through this difficult patch guys, please!

The trip to River Pass, Colorado by land speeder had seemed so much shorter. Walking back took nearly a week, even with the Force to spur her on, mainly because of the wound in her leg. Zahra took a bacta pill that first day and held off on taking another for as long as she could, until the pain became almost unbearable. When it did, she took a pill and rested for a short while before moving off again. She limped as she walked, speaking with Lowbacca over the comlink, needing to have some kind of contact with someone, even if it was over a comlink.

 

She spent her nights curled up under trees and bushes, only dozing fitfully in lieu of sleep. When that first town she’d seen came into view, she pulled the Force in close again, cloaking herself, remembering the black-eyed man and his friends she had seen at the diner with Jo and Ellen. She knew what they were now: demons. And she really had no intention of getting involved with them. She knew that holy water (whatever that was) and rock salt hurt them, but did that dispel them from the host body? No, she remembered Jo and Rufus reciting some kind of incantation as they tried to exorcise Sam. She could not remember what it was they had said though, not for all the gold in Erebor. Besides, where would she even find holy water?

 

No, the best thing to do would be to get through the town as quickly as possible without drawing attention to herself. She didn’t have any money to eat at the diner, anyway, as much as the thought of a double cheeseburger appealed to her. She’d taken some food from the Quick-Mart in River Pass, but it was either too sweet or too salty, leaving her thirsty. _The sooner I get back to the ship, the better,_ she thought.

 

Even as she thought that, her leg screamed in pain. She glanced down and stifled a groan to see that it was bleeding again. She limped to the same bench she’d sat on that first night, and lowered herself down stiffly, keeping her wounded leg straight and as much of her weight off it as she could. _Damn, damn, damn!_ she thought, hissing in a breath.

 

She undid the dressing she’d changed just that morning and took a peek at the wound. She’d discovered it was more than a mere graze the first night out of River Pass. There was a hole in her leg, about a quarter inch into her thigh. It wasn’t a big wound, but it ached like a Krayt dragon’s bite! Zahra gritted her teeth and slipped another bacta pill past her lips. What she really needed was to pour some liquid bacta over the injury. That would definitely help! Luckily, there was some on the ship, she remembered. She just had to get there.

 

Zahra rummaged in her bag for the extra shirt she’d been using for bandages and tore off another strip. She used some water to rinse the wound and then bound it quickly, nice and tight. All this was done under cover of the Force. She sat back and sighed, deciding to rest on the bench a little longer.

 

She pulled out one of the bags of chips she’d grabbed from the Quick-Mart. She snacked on the salty food and washed it down with water. She looked around the town, noticing the people for the first time, strolling along, going about their lives like everything was normal. They had no idea about what had just taken place in a town not too far from here mere days ago. Or if they did, it didn’t weigh on them like it did on her. She’d seen it all first hand.

 

After all Zahra had been through in Middle-Earth, after all she’d seen in her own galaxy, one would have thought that she would be used to such things by now. But she wasn’t. How could anyone get used to war? She was a Jedi, and did her duty when it was called upon, but she took no pleasure in taking life. She closed her eyes. _Not even then,_ she whispered vehemently in her mind, picturing the tortured faces of the orcs she’d suffocated. _Not even then._

 

It hadn’t been the taking of life she’d relished in that moment. It had been the power that had filled her, smothering the light in her heart, and turning it to something dark and ugly and unrecognizable. In that brief moment, she had not known herself. If there had been a mirror present, she would have looked at it and seen a stranger looking back.

 

_I must fight this,_ she thought. _I must fight this at all costs or I will be doomed to the Dark Side for the rest of my life._

 

An icy current ran through the Force and she tensed. She frowned as she sought it out. What was it? Could it be…?

 

A land speeder pulled up in front of her, jolting her from her thoughts. She opened her eyes and saw an elderly couple inside. They were looking at the bench she was sitting on. No, wait, they were looking at her! Zahra stared back at them with wide eyes. Her thoughts had so consumed her, her concentration had slipped and she’d made herself visible to others.

 

The elderly woman rolled her window down and looked at Zahra. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked, her voice still strong despite the heavy lines on her face. She glanced at Zahra’s leg and back to her face.

 

It took Zahra a moment to find her voice. “I’m fine,” she said. Been better, actually, she thought. She cast about with the Force, looking for that cold presence and glanced around with her eyes. She saw them, then. The men, no, the _demons_ from the diner. They were staring at her, eyes black as pitch.

 

“Are you sure? Maybe you should go to the hospital,” the elderly man was saying, frowning.

 

Zahra used the Force to gauge them. No threat. “Actually, I could use a lift, if you don’t mind,” she said. She glanced back at the demons as she spoke, but they were gone.

 

  
The couple glanced at each other. “Not at all, hop in,” the man said. “I’m Bill Anders. This is my wife, Claudia.”

 

“A pleasure to meet you,” Zahra said, standing and limping to the land speeder. “I’m Zahra Rivers.” She opened the back passenger door and slid in, careful not to get blood on the seat.

 

“Where are you headed?” the man asked as he pulled away from the curb.

 

Zahra told him and didn’t miss the look exchanged between the couple. “You going camping or something?” Bill asked.

 

Zahra blinked once, then nodded with a smile. “Yes, I’m going camping.”

 

“Alone?”

 

Zahra’s smile grew slightly at Bill’s incredulous tone. “No, I’m meeting my friends out there. They set up camp a few days ago. I was delayed in joining them.” She saw them exchange another glance. “I was in a small… accident.”

 

“You fall off your bike?” Claudia asked, her tone sympathetic.

 

Bike? Similar to a speeder bike? Perhaps. “Yes. The bike was completely trashed. I had to… sell it. But I spent my last few credits, er, dollars on snacks.” Let them think what they wanted to as long as it got her away from the demons.

 

Now the glance they exchanged was amused. “You sound like our grandson,” the woman said. “He’s a bit clumsy too, no offense, of course.”

 

“None taken,” Zahra assured her.

 

“Well, he’s always getting scraped up and using all his money to buy things he doesn’t really need, just wants,” Claudia added. Zahra didn’t see the correlation between the two and didn’t ask.

 

“He’s a typical teenager,” Bill said with a fond note to his voice.

 

_I’m anything but typical,_ Zahra thought as the couple bragged on about all their grandchildren. As they continued to speak, she tuned them out, searching for that icy spot in the Force that helped her to pinpoint the demons. As the land speeder drove out of town, the coldness faded and Zahra finally let out a breath of relief and relaxed against the seat back.

 

They ate up the miles in no time and soon reached the small forested area Zahra had left nearly a week ago. She thanked Bill and Claudia and they wished her well before issuing a warning to watch out for wild animals and driving off. She looked after them for several long moments until the land speeder disappeared from view. Then she turned and headed deep into the forest.

 

*

 

Zahra had not credited the warning to watch out for wild animals until she had been walking for several minutes. She became aware, albeit slowly, that she was being followed. At first, she feared the demons from town had followed her, but soon discounted that idea when she reached out with the Force and felt no chill. She paused a moment, stretching out her senses and picked up on the new threat. The minds were somehow familiar and alien at the same time. There was no evil in these new minds, only hunger. And she was the prey. Zahra hated the thought of killing animals who only wanted to eat, so she called the Force to her and prepared herself as she continued to walk.

 

There were seven of them and only one of her, but she liked her odds.

 

She kept walking, slowing imperceptibly, and letting the beasts circle her. When the first one stepped into her path, ears flat, teeth bared in a menacing growl, she marveled at his appearance. Incredible. Simply incredible that, not only would humans evolve on such disparate planets in different galaxies, but so would wolves. She didn’t have time to think about it though, because the rest of the pack pushed forth from the underbrush.

 

Zahra did not want to kill them. So she touched their minds with the Force, and sent out a wave of calm. She heard them whimper and they scuffled about in confusion. “It’s all right,” she said in as soothing a tone as possible. “It’s all right.” She brushed their minds gently, letting them decide for themselves that she was no threat to them. She gave them a glimpse of her power and soothed their minds again.

 

The lead wolf, the alpha, cocked his head to the side. His black and gray pelt and blue eyes put her in mind of someone and she bit back a laugh. The alpha finally lay down on his stomach and then turned over, showing his belly to her. The rest of the pack followed suit.

 

Zahra smiled. She went to each one, rubbing their stomachs, ending with the alpha. He looked up at her as she rubbed his belly and she grinned at him. “Guess that makes me your alpha now, eh, Thorin?” she asked, naming him on the spot.

 

He rolled over, pushed his nose into her hand and licked her palm. “Guess it does,” she said. Zahra stood and the pack crowded around her. “Let’s go.” She turned and continued to walk. The pack followed.

 

*

 

Lowbacca sensed Zahra’s approach before he saw her. He waited outside the Falcon for her, arms crossed, eyes closed. She was in pain. She had told him she had been injured, of course, but not to what extent. He could tell it wasn’t serious, though the pain ran deep.

 

And she wasn’t alone. There were others with her, animals by the feel of their minds.

 

Lowie sighed. What had she picked up this time?

 

She came out of the trees a few moments later, limping. Lowie started forward and then came up short when he spotted the wolves.

 

“Zahra,” he began in admonishment, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

 

“It was either let them eat me, kill them, or this,” she said. “I don’t feel like causing more death, mine or theirs, so here we are.”

 

Lowie sighed again, and reached for her arm. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said, knowing there wouldn’t be a discussion. “What happened to your leg?”

 

“I was shot,” she said.

 

“Shot?”

 

“Yeah. With a metal projectile. The weapons of this world are crude and primitive, though definitely a step up from Middle-Earth,” she said as Lowie helped her onto the ship. “Though that’s not exactly a good thing, is it?” She hissed in a breath as she sank onto a chair in the lounge area, dropping her bag to the floor beside her.

 

“Wait here,” Lowie said.

 

“Not going anywhere,” she replied and leaned back. One of the wolves had followed them onto the ship and leaned his head on her good thigh.

 

Lowie went off to the medical room to fetch the emergency med-kit. She always got hurt somehow it seemed. He shook his great head and stifled another sigh. He’d told her not to go with those strange women, but she had been determined. _I feel the Force calling to me,_ she’d said. _I must go, Lowie._

 

He’d given in. Of course he had. He always did. First, when she’d set off on this crazy quest to find Master Danai, then when he’d let her go with the Company of Thorin Oakenshield, and now this! She was constantly getting hurt, emotionally, if not physically. Lowbacca was not an idiot. He could sense the pain in Zahra’s heart: the anger, the fear, the sorrow, the loneliness. He did not know what to do to help her, or what to say to ease her conscience. Maybe he couldn’t. Maybe he wasn’t meant to. Force only knew.

 

Back in the lounge he pulled a chair over and unbound her wound and took a look. With a grunt, he said, “It looks worse than it is. You’re lucky it didn’t get infected.”

 

“I know,” Zahra murmured.

 

Lowie looked at her from beneath his heavy brows and watched her stroke the wolf’s head, a distant look on her face. He pulled out a small bottle of liquid bacta and a cloth. As he began to treat her wound, he said, “Tell me what happened,” in a quiet growl.

 

After a moment, she began the tale of her journey and all that had happened. He listened in silence and by the time he finished sewing the wound shut, she had finished. The silence continued while he bound the injury (he’d cut off the pant leg when he’d began). When he was done, he sat back, crossed his arms, and leveled his gaze at her.

 

“First, you should have told me about these dreams,” he said. She looked down, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “I don’t like the idea of these people, whoever they are, whatever they are, contacting you like this. This world is strange and full of light and darkness. They are at war with one another, and I would rather not be caught in the middle of it, if we can avoid it. Should the Force guide us to be a part of it, then, of course, we will do what we must. But until such a time, we will be removed.” Zahra looked up at him without moving her head, and he could see that rebellious spark coming back to life. That spark was what had led them this far, for good or ill, and he was glad to see it.

 

“Second,” Lowbacca continued. “I’m proud of you for what you did in the town of River Pass, Colorado.” Zahra lifted her head, eyes wide in surprise. “I know you were afraid about what that man said to you in your dream, but the Force called to you to go there, and you acted well.”

 

“But, those men,” she began and he held up one hand to stop her.

 

“Yes, they died. And if you had not been there, they likely would have died anyway. Fear is a terrible, crippling thing, Zahra. Fear is what leads to many bad things happening. From what you told me, I can see that fear is what War preyed upon. He turned the townspeople against one another through the fear of the unknown. You are an unknown. Had you stopped Sam Winchester, you likely would have endangered your own life as well. And I can understand the fears behind why you did nothing,” he said, leaning toward her slightly. “You must learn to conquer your fears or they will lead you down a path from which you may not be able to turn back from.”

 

“I let them die, though,” she whispered.

 

Lowie looked at her for a long moment, reading her emotions. “Do you want me to condemn you?”

 

She shrugged. Shook her head ‘no’.

 

Lowie sat back again. “Zahra,” he said and waited until she looked up again. “I can neither condemn you nor absolve you. I can only guide you. If you seek forgiveness, then it must come from within yourself. I cannot give it to you. I was not there. I don’t know how you felt, I don’t know what you were thinking, and I don’t know what the situation was like. You must learn this on your own. It is a terrible lesson, and a terrible price, but one that is all too common in our way of life.”

 

She looked down again. He could tell what he’d said was expected but unsatisfying. But it was the truth.

 

“And third,” he said. “You defeated a terrible foe single-handedly. Well done.”

 

She blinked at him. And a small smile traced across her lips.

 

“Now,” Lowie said, getting to his feet. “You must be tired. Go, get some sleep.”

 

She pushed herself up, careful not to put any weight on her injured leg. “Where are the droids?” she asked as they walked through the ship to her small room.

 

“There is little that can be done for the ship at the moment,” Lowie said, “so they powered down. I’ll turn them back on when we need them.”

 

Zahra nodded and hobbled into her room, the wolf following her. “’Night Lowie,” she said.

 

“Good-night, Zahra,” he said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

 

She turned to him with a smile. “Me too.”

 

The door swished shut and Lowie went back outside. The wolves were milling around, but there were only four now. He wondered where the others had gone but then pushed them from his thoughts. The Wookiee heaved a heavy sigh and stared up at the sky. The first stars were twinkling into view far above, those ancient bastions of light so far away that the spacefarers of old had sailed by. _Force, guide me,_ he thought. _Guide Zahra. Show us the path. The one that will lead us home._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like the addition of the wolves. There will be more of them and they will all have familiar names. I just wanted a way for Zahra to connect with Middle-Earth and the friends she left there. She's grieving for them, and I wanted her to feel a little bit better. Plus, I just think wolves are cool. Whether or not there are wolves in that part of the U.S., I have no idea. Creative license, guys. It's a beautiful thing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra has a series of new encounters, some of them quite peculiar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How long has it been since I posted a chapter? I hope you guys enjoy this. I don't know when the next chapter will go up. But have fun with this!
> 
> This is not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.

_“So this is what you dream about,” a man’s voice said._

 

_Zahra sighed and turned away from the view: the cityscape of Coruscant that stretched as far as the eye could see, from horizon to horizon and beyond. The sky was a hazy orange, the clouds so thin and wispy they were transparent. This is what the city had looked like, the last time she’d stood on this planet in reality. In the distance, she could see the criss-crossing lanes of air traffic, and the lights of the downtown center were neon-bright. Zahra stood on the roof of the Jedi Temple, a place she often escaped to for quiet._ So much for that, _she thought as she faced the intruder._

 

_“What do you want?” she asked the bald man._

 

_“Such animosity,” he tutted._

 

_“You’re surprised?”_

 

_He shrugged and walked forward so he stood beside her. Zahra moved back several paces. The Force dripped from him like ooze, light and dark._

 

_“We got off on the wrong foot,” he said. “Let’s start over. I’m Zachariah.”_

 

_Zahra glared at him._

 

_“And you are…?” he prompted, tilting his bald head invitingly, so that the sunlight glinted off it._

 

_“What makes you think I’m going to tell you my name?” she asked. “I don’t know or trust you.”_

 

_Zachariah sighed. “Look, kid, I’m sorry I made you doubt yourself. Truth is, this is the only way I can contact you.”_

 

_She frowned. “What do you mean?”_

 

_“Normally, I’d find you in the real world, but for some reason, I can’t,” he glared out at the city. “It is very frustrating.”_

 

_He couldn’t find her? Well, she and Lowie were cloaking themselves with the Force. Not just themselves, but the whole ship. Maybe that was why he couldn’t find her._ Well, good, _she thought._

 

_“No offense,” she said, her tone implying she meant all the offense she could give, “but I don’t even like you dropping by like this. What makes you think I want you dropping by when I’m awake?”_

 

_He rolled his eyes. “I need to speak with you.”_

 

_“Well, you’re here now,” she said. “So talk. Wait, what do you mean you’re sorry you made me doubt myself?”_

 

_“I said that?” he asked with false innocence._

 

_“Yes, you did.” She thought for a moment. “You bastard,” she hissed as realization dawned._

 

_“Now wait a moment,” he started, but she cut him off._

 

_“You told me not to get involved and I listened! I let those boys die! I could have stopped Sam Winchester from killing them!” She made a move like she was going to grab him, but he disappeared. She whirled and found him several yards away in the middle of the roof. “You piece of--!”_

 

_“I said wait a moment!” Zachariah shouted. A flash of light split the sky overhead and Zahra paused. The world fractured and for a nanosecond she could see beyond her dreamscape into the gray world. A beat later and there was no hint of that other world at all. “I told you not to get involved for a reason. What happened after is not my fault!”_

 

_“The hell it isn’t! Force, I’m so stupid! So stupid for listening to you!” Zahra growled. “You can’t tell me to do something then claim innocence when something bad happens!”_

 

_“I told you not to get involved. Sam Winchester would have killed those boys anyway. They were supposed to die!”_

 

_She stared in disbelief. “What..?” she whispered._

 

_“You don’t get it, do you, young Jedi?” He took a step forward, menacingly. “This is all preordained. The Apocalypse, War and his brethren. All this death that you hate so much! It is already written. You can’t stop it! No one can!”_

 

_“Preordained?” she repeated. “What, like, destiny or something?”_

 

_He nodded with a look on his face that said she was finally making sense. “Yes, like destiny.”_

 

_She gaped. “That’s a load of bantha shit!” she growled. “The future is always in motion, nothing is ever certain.”_

 

_“Some things are certain,” he replied in a superior tone._

 

_She shook her head. “No,” she mumbled, then louder, “No! I can’t believe that. If that’s true, then that means—that means the people of Laketown… all those people…. And the orcs I killed with the Force….” She trailed off, staring at her shaking hands._

 

_“Finally catching on, aren’t you?”_

 

_“NO! I can’t believe that! I could have killed Smaug! I could have saved those people! I could have denied my anger!”_

 

_“Not doing much good at denying your anger now, are you?”_

 

_“Shut UP!” She unleashed a pulse of the Force so strong the Temple roof shook. Zachariah was unfazed. That, more than anything, scared her. “I want to wake up now. I-I want to wake up!”_

 

_He smirked. “What makes you think I’m going to let you go so easily?” he asked. “I came here for a reason, kid. A proposition.”_

 

_She gave him a cautious look. “What?”_

 

_“Look, you’re here already and there’s nothing I can do about it.” He flicked one hand at her as he spoke. “And, you’re going to get dragged into things pretty soon, once those Winchesters get their heads out of their asses. And when you are, I’ve got a deal for you.”_

 

_“What?” she asked angrily. She thought of Sam and Dean Winchester and her stomach clenched. What would she have to do? They were Ellen and Jo’s friends. She didn’t think she could kill them if that was what Zachariah wanted._

 

_“You want to go home, right?”_

 

_“Yes! Of course I do!” she snapped._

 

_“Dean Winchester has a role to play in this little Apocalypse. A big one,” Zachariah said cryptically. “If you can get him to say ‘yes’ when the time comes, I’ll repair your ship and you and your friends can go on your merry way.” He smiled at her beatifically._

 

_“Say ‘yes’?” she repeated. “What does he have to say ‘yes’ to?”_

 

_He waved this off. “Inconsequential,” he said. “You’ll know what it is when the time comes. What do you say?”_

 

_She was silent. “Why don’t you get him to say ‘yes’?” she asked finally._

 

_He sighed, his face taking on a put-upon expression. “Oh, believe me, I’ve been trying. He just keeps refusing. But you,” he leered at her with a smile, “I’ve no doubt he’ll say ‘yes’ for you.”_

 

_“What does that mean?” she asked, a chill running through her._

 

_He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” At her narrow-eyed look, he added, “Don’t worry; you won’t have to do anything untoward.”_

 

Good, _she thought and frowned. If he was being honest—and she had her doubts that he was—then this could be just what she needed. A way home. This was what she needed more than anything. He could fix her ship, send them to the wormhole and back to their own galaxy._

 

_“I’ll… think about it,” she said after a long moment._

 

_Zachariah frowned, then shrugged. “If that’s the best you can offer, then fine. I’ll go with that.  For now.” His last words left a sour taste in her mouth. He disappeared and she was alone on the Temple roof again. Just the way she liked it._

 

*

 

Zahra woke the next morning feeling even more confused than usual. She turned her head to look at the wolf, Thorin. His head was resting on her stomach, his blue eyes looking at her. She smiled and smoothed the fur on his head down. His eyes closed at the touch. As she stroked him, her thoughts drifted to Zachariah and his proposal. Make Dean say yes to what? She wondered. A terrible foreboding crept into her heart as she lay there. She had discovered nothing to fix the ship during her… excursion, for lack of a better word. That fact did not bode well. She felt as if she was standing on shaky ground and one wrong step would send her tumbling over the edge into an abyss so vast and deep she would never find her way out again. Zahra shuddered, causing Thorin to perk his ears forward.

 

“It’s nothing,” she assured him. Then she sat up, signaling to Thorin to move. After going about her morning ablutions, Zahra went in search of Lowie. She found him in the lounge, going over more sensor data. “Anything?” she asked.

 

He shook his great head. “Nothing of note,” he said. He looked up at her. “What is it?” he asked.

 

Zahra bit her lip, then sat beside him and told him about her “dream”.

 

He listened in silence. “He could be lying,” Lowie said when she finished.

 

Zahra nodded. “I thought about that. Really this seems almost too good to be true. But... Lowie… what if he isn’t?” she asked haltingly. “What if he’s telling the truth? What if he can fix the ship and send us home?”

 

“Would you be willing to risk it? Risk Dean Winchester’s life, perhaps, over the small chance that this being was telling the truth?” Lowie asked.

 

Zahra didn’t have to think about it long. “No,” she said. “I don’t know what game Zachariah is playing, but I can tell you I don’t want any part of it.”

 

Lowie nodded thoughtfully. “As I said last night,” he began, “we will wait and let the Force guide us. That is all that we can do.”

 

“I know,” Zahra said. It was frustrating, but the will of the Force was all they had at the moment.

 

Her stomach growled into the silence. Lowie huffed a laugh. “Get some breakfast,” he told her and went back to his sensor data. Zahra stood and started to head for the kitchen when he called after her, “Oh, and Zahra?”

 

“Yeah?” she asked, turning back.

 

“There’s a little surprise waiting outside for you.”

 

She frowned and hurried out of the ship, Thorin at her heels. She halted half-way down the ramp to gape at the sight before her. The number of wolves had doubled while she slept. There were now fourteen of them, three of whom were cubs. Thorin darted past her and went up to a female wolf with dark gray fur. The cubs jumped up at him as the two wolves touched noses. Zahra stepped onto the ground and the cubs turned toward her, running across the open ground to sniff at her boots and yip excitedly at each other. One was golden-brown, another was jet-black like Thorin, and the third, the smallest of the litter, was a medium brown.

 

Zahra crouched down and held out her hands for the pups to sniff. She grinned widely as they sniffed and then began to lick her fingers. She looked up at the older wolves, seeing that they ranged in ages from a year old to at least ten years. As she gazed around at them, her mind flashed to Erebor, and the dwarves she had traveled with, befriended and fought alongside, standing there with sad smiles, watching her go. Her eyes watered and she blinked back the sudden tears.

 

The smallest pup reared onto his hind paws and placed his forepaws on her knee. She noticed the fur on his paws curled over his toes. He yipped at her and cocked his head, his brown eyes wide and wondering. Zahra smiled. “The Force works in mysterious ways,” she murmured. She scratched at the pup’s ears. “Doesn’t it, Bilbo?”

 

He yipped, his tail wagging excitedly. It seemed he agreed.

 

*

 

Not again, _was her first thought as she opened her eyes on the gray world. She sighed heavily and looked around. Then she remembered the red-eyed man and fervently began to hope she didn’t run into him again. Or Zachariah, for that matter. When nothing and no one appeared before her, she began to walk. The world stayed the same, flat and colorless as she ambled along, no destination in sight or in mind._

 

_She let her thoughts drift to her friends, those she’d left behind on various worlds, those she’d brought with her, those she’d met in this world… which really only consisted of Jo and Ellen Harvelle. Then her thoughts turned dark as she remembered what Zachariah had said. The offer he’d made, that could send her and Lowie back home… but at what cost? Who would pay that price? Dean Winchester? Or Zahra?_

 

_She stopped, staring down at the ground, at the lush green grass. There was no telling when or even if the she would meet the Winchesters again. Perhaps she wouldn’t. Perhaps it was not the will of the Force for her to become entangled with them and the Apocalypse of this world._

 

Wait, _she thought._ Green grass?

 

_Zahra’s head shot up and she stared around her, mouth hanging open. “What the--?” she started._

 

_She was standing at the edge of a forest. There was something familiar about it, but she could not remember ever seeing it before. Where had the gray world gone? Had she been so wrapped up in her thoughts that the world had changed without her noticing? Zahra looked up at the sky, blinking at the bright sunlight. The sky was blue, the clouds white and puffy, and the sound of birds singing echoed from the trees ahead._

 

_“I am having some really strange dreams lately,” she said aloud._

 

_A giggle answered her._

 

_Zahra tensed and looked down, scanning the tree line. She shifted her stance, settling on the balls of her feet, her hand reaching for her lightsaber. “Who’s there?” she called._

 

_Another giggle, light and air and full of mischief. A child’s laugh._

 

_“Come out,” she ordered, keeping her tone authoritative._

 

_A flicker of movement caught her eye and she watched as a little girl stepped out from behind a tree. She was small, no older than four, at least, wearing patchy clothes, her hair ill-kept and tangled. Her feet were bear and she clutched a wooden horse in her hand. Zahra recognized her immediately. Her lips parted as her breath left her, but she did not speak for a full minute, staring at the little girl from Laketown._

 

_“Y-you!” she croaked out eventually. She straightened, relaxing her stance and tried to form more words. “How…? What…? Is this real?”_

 

_The girl giggled again, spun on her bare heels and took off into the woods._

 

_“Wait!” Zahra shouted. She raced after her, using the Force to spur her on, but could not manage to catch up. “Please! Don’t run! I just want to talk to you!”_

 

_The girl’s laughter danced back to her on a steady breeze. Zahra caught glimpses of the girl’s brown dress, a flash of dirty-blonde hair, but no more than that could she see._

 

_Deep into the forest they ran, the trees growing in size and age as they went, roots sticking up, creating arches and moss-covered tents. The tops created a heavy canopy overhead, blocking out the sunlight. A shudder ran through Zahra as she felt the Force pulse around her with power. This forest, wherever it was, was old. Ancient. The further they ran, the bigger the trees became until they were as big around as buildings._ People could live in them, _she thought. She glanced up once, then again when she realized there were staircases carved into the trunks, or attached to them, with small houses and platforms and walkways placed expertly throughout the forest. This_ was _a city!_

 

_“Wait! Where are we!” she called out to the girl. Zahra rounded a particularly large tree and skidded to a stop. The girl stood in the middle of a small clearing, next to an enormous root. She glanced back at Zahra and pointed to a path that was so worn the Jedi had missed it at first. “You want me to go down that path?” she asked._

 

_The girl looked at her, a knowing smile on her face._

 

_Zahra stepped forward, toward the girl. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry about Laketown. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop Smaug. I’m sorry I never found out if you survived or not.” Her voice trembled and she stopped talking. She swallowed, her emotions tightening her throat and burning her eyes._

 

_The girl looked at her, gaze soft and accepting. She pointed to the path again, then climbed onto the root, sat, and played with her toy horse._

 

_Zahra stood there for a long moment, then she turned toward the path and started forward. Just before she passed beneath a stone arch, she glanced back. The girl was gone. Zahra stopped again, looking about for some sign of the child, but there was none. With a heavy sigh, Zahra faced forward again and started down the new path._

 

_The path was made of stone, worn with use and age, and led to a small clearing, surrounded by white stone and trees. Zahra gazed down into it, and stepped slowly down the stairs carved into the rock face. Water trickled into a small basin exposed by twisted roots. Another, smaller basin stood on a rounded waist-high pillar in the center of the clearing. Zahra paused at the foot of the stairs, uncertainty keeping her still. Another archway led off to the side and from this darkness stepped a figure dressed in a white gown, her golden locks tumbling freely to her waist._

 

_Zahra gasped as she recognized her. “Lady Galadriel?” she asked, confusion clouding her face._

 

_“Hello, again, Zahra,” she said in her deep, smooth voice._

 

_“What is going on?” Zahra asked._

 

_The she-elf smiled at her. “Do not fear, Zahra,” she said. “I mean you no harm.”_

 

_“Nor I, you,” Zahra said, “but what is this? Am I dreaming?”_

 

_Lady Galadriel paused, thinking over the question. “Yes, I suppose you could call it that.”_

 

_Zahra’s expression turned even more bemused and, at a loss for words, she stared at the she-elf._

 

_Galadriel smiled again, wider. “Will you look into the mirror?” she asked. She lifted one pale hand to indicate the basin in the middle of the clearing._

 

_Zahra looked from it to her and back again. “What will I see?” she asked._

 

_Galadriel’s smile turned mysterious. “Even the wisest cannot tell.”_

 

_She walked to the pool and picked up a silver pitcher. She dipped it into the pool and turned. Her movements were carefully coordinated as if she’d done this a number of times. Given the age of elves, Zahra supposed she had._

 

_“The mirror shows many things,” Galadriel continued, walking toward the basin. She lifted the pitcher, tilted it, and began to poor the water into the basin. It hit with the splash of water on water and Zahra watched the droplets dance into the air and fall again. “Things that were. Things that are. And some things that have not yet come to pass.” The last of the water poured, Galadriel stepped back, placed the pitcher back in its place by the pool and folded her hands in front of her, waiting._

 

_“More riddles,” Zahra grumbled. Galadriel smiled again, a knowing smile, by no means lacking in warmth, even if it lacked in information. “Tch,” Zahra said and stepped up to the basin, not taking her eyes off the she-elf once. “If this is some kind of trick...,” she began warningly._

 

_“It is no trick,” Galadriel said. She tilted her chin at the basin and lifted an eyebrow at the young Jedi. The meaning was clear: look into the mirror._

 

_Zahra frowned and looked down. She tilted forward, until her reflection blinked back at her. “All I see is my reflection,” she said, glancing up. “Great mirror you got her. Its magic truly astounds me!”_

 

_“Look again,” Galadriel said. “Be patient.”_

 

_Zahra huffed and looked down again. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a shadow swept across the water, somehow beneath and above the surface at the same time. When it cleared, Zahra saw a house. It was burning. A man stood outside it, clutching a baby in his arms with a small boy standing next to him, clinging to his bathrobe. Then things began to move at a faster pace. Image, after image, some of them lingering to let the scenes play out, flashed across the water. It was nearly a full minute before Zahra realized she was watching Dean and Sam’s lives play out before her. She could tell when the images were showing more recent events, because the brothers looked just like she’d seen them in River Pass. When Dean climbed out of his grave, she was astounded. When Sam drank demon blood, she was horrified. When they stood in church with a blinding white light shooting up from the floor, she felt relieved. The same light Lowie and she had seen when they’d first come to the world. The brothers had been there too._

 

_Then things changed. Sam and Dean parted ways. Right after River Pass. Sam, she could see, was now working at a bar. No, now he was defending a woman from some men. He knew them. Had worked with them before. Hunted with them before. But he defeated them._

 

_And now Dean, running out of a strip club laughing with the man in the tan coat from the gray world. She didn’t know his name. The images were silent. She watched him and Dean speak to a wheelchair bound man with a glazed expression on his face, then head back to an abandoned house. The lights went out, and there was the man with the glazed expression, no longer wheelchair bound. He stood tall and straight, pride and strength in every line of his body as electricity arched from his back like wings. They spoke. Dean was afraid, but putting on a show of bravado. Then the third man was encased in a circle of flame and Dean and his friend walked out._

 

_The image faded to black. Zahra thought it was over, but then a new picture formed. Sam Winchester dressed in a white suit, holding a red rose. Another image, and this time Sam, in the white suit was standing over Dean’s crumpled body. He turned and… another Dean! Zahra couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing. Two Deans? The one on the ground, the dead one, looked older slightly, hardness etched into the lines of his face. The living Dean… that was the Dean she’d seen in River Pass. Had he… time-traveled? But how? Was that even possible? Then there was a flash of light and Dean was in a small bedroom with Zachariah. That bastard! Zahra seethed. They spoke, but of course she couldn’t hear. Then Dean vanished and appeared again on a road somewhere with his friend, the man in the long tan coat._

 

_The water turned black again, and out of the darkness came a new image. This one had nothing to do with the Winchesters. There was only one loan figure, standing at the precipice of a mountain, looking down on a world wreathed in flame. The figure was cloaked, head bent to watch the destruction. Then the person turned their head and the light of the fires lit the face in a halo of reddish light, glinting off the umber-colored irises, the bloodshot eyes, the shadowed cheekbones. Zahra knew that face. She knew that face all too well._

 

_It was her._

 

_“NO!” she shrieked and pushed herself forcefully away from the basin, landing with a grunt on her backside. She stared at nothing, eyes wide and unseeing as she processed what she had just seen. Tears filled her eyes and she looked up at Lady Galadriel. The elf was watching her with a cool expression._

 

_“I know what it is you saw,” she said. “For it is also in my mind.”_

 

_Zahra was shaking all over as she got to her feet. She swallowed thickly, brushing her eyes with the back of her hand. “What was the point of that?” she asked shakily. “What was the point of showing me any of that?!” Her shout echoed off the stone walls around them._

 

_Galadriel remained calm. “You needed to know the truth of Sam and Dean Winchester,” she said._

 

_This had to be a dream. How else would she know about them? “And that last thing?” Zahra asked._

 

_“Do you really want to know?”_

 

_Zahra turned from her, shame filling her heart. No, she didn’t… but…. “Yes,” she whispered._

 

_“It is what will come to pass, should you fail.”_

 

_“Fail?” Zahra rounded on her. “Fail at what? I haven’t done anything…!” She stopped. She licked her lips. “The orcs…. Master….” She didn’t say anything more, but her thoughts were plainly read on her face. Galadriel’s eyes warmed with pity and sympathy._

 

_“You are standing on the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and you will fall into an abyss of darkness so deep you will never return from it,” Lady Galadriel told her._

 

_Zahra felt her body sag. Her shoulders drooped, her eyes welled with tears, and her heart dropped, landing in the vicinity of her toes. She stared at the she-elf, overcome with futility. Was it all for nothing then? Was she doomed to fail?_

 

_“But,” Galadriel added, and Zahra perked up at once. “But hope remains.”_

 

_Zahra’s heart began to lift again, rising to her ankles, then her knees, then higher until it was beating like thunder in her chest._

 

_“He is waiting for you,” Galadriel said. “He is waiting for you to find him. Or for him to find you.”_

 

_Now confusion flooded the young Jedi. “He? He who? Who are you talking about?”_

 

_Galadriel’s smile was cryptic. Her answer, even more so. “You will discover that it time,” she said. “As I said, even the wisest cannot see all ends.” She looked away suddenly, concern coloring her features._

 

_“What is it?” Zahra asked, on high alert._

 

_“Danger. Near to you. Darkness creeps ever closer to your position. Be on your guard, Zahra Rivers,” Galadriel said. A gray mist began to fill the small hollow. “And remember, the Force will always be with you.”_

 

_“Wait! Don’t go! Galadriel!” Zahra shouted into the thickening mist. “Please! I have more questions!”_

 

_“They are coming.”_

 

_That voice. Who was it? It didn’t sound like Galadriel, but it didn’t_ not _sound like her either. And those words. Why did they fill Zahra with dread and hope at the same time? She sighed as the mist began to cover her eyes. What was going to happen? What was waiting for her in the waking world? She was ready to find out._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUN! Betcha didn't see that coming! 
> 
> Just kidding. ;)
> 
> But seriously, this was a fun chapter to write. The wolves make another appearance. I hope you like them. And, yes, more dreams. I wanted to get through episodes 3 and 4 of season 5 of Supernatural as quickly as possible. I love those episodes, but Zahra had no purpose in them. So I skipped over them a little bit. I'm going to be playing with the timeline of the show a little bit too. I'm not sure how long Sam and Dean are apart after episode two, so.... yeah. Sorry/not sorry. 
> 
> And if you caught the fact that Zahra's interactions with Lady Galadriel mirror those Frodo had with her, good job! I kind of borrowed from that scene. It's one of my favorites in Fellowship. 
> 
> Again, not sure when the next chapter will be posted since I haven't written it yet, but stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danger draws closer to Zahra and her friends. Dean, Sam and Bobby make a startling discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I didn't know when I would post another chapter, but I knocked this one out pretty quickly. I wanted to start to bridge the two story lines as much as possible, so this chapter acts as a set-up for what's to follow. This is a short chapter, I know, but the next one may be longer, maybe. I don't know. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Any and all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> Also, it would be nice if you left a comment letting me know how you're enjoying the story.

Zahra woke with a start. She looked around wildly, her heart calming when she realized she was on her cot in the Falcon. Thorin lay beside her, his bright eyes open and watching her. She patted his head a moment as she let the Force center her mind. It was then she became aware of something outside. Something wasn’t right. She slipped from the cot, pulling on her boots as she went and stumbled out into the hall, Thorin at her heels. She made her way through the Falcon and down the ramp, pausing when she saw what awaited her.

 

The demons. They were here. They were looking about, outside the Force bubble she and Lowie were using to cloak the ship. Zahra’s heart began to pick up speed again, and she found that she was having trouble swallowing. Her palms were damp and she wiped them on her pants as she walked forward. Lowie was standing a few meters ahead, still inside the Force bubble, watching the demons. The rest of the wolf pack were scattered about, hackles raised, teeth bared in agitation.

 

This was not good. No, this was not good at all. How had they found them? She’d left them in town, hadn’t she? When she accepted the ride from the old folks, she’d felt the coldness of the demons’ presence fade away behind her. How had they found them?

 

She paused beside Lowie, trying to force herself to calm down, but the Wookiee sensed her fear and unease. He set on large hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. She met his gaze and he nodded at her. They didn’t speak. The two Jedi stood there watching the demons look around.

 

“Are you sure this is the place?” one of them asked.

 

“Of course,” another said, and Zahra recognized him. This was the one she’d made eye contact with at the diner and as she left town. “Our Father told us to come to this place. How could he be wrong?”

 

An image flashed in Zahra’s mind, an image of a fair-haired man with red eyes. She trembled, feeling sick to her stomach.

 

“But how do you know?” said the first as the rest of the group turned to the other demon, clearly the leader.

 

“What, can’t you feel it?” he said. He gestured with one hand, towards the ship, wolves, and Jedi. Zahra flinched. She knew they couldn’t see them, but still. “This place is wrong. It’s too… light.” He sneered at the comparison and Zahra and Lowie shared another look. So, these demons could sense the light side of the Force. And they detested it.

 

One of the demons, shivered. “I hate it here,” she complained. “What are we supposed to do anyway?”

 

The lead demon smiled and he turned to face the Jedi, even though he could not see them. His eyes moved and then paused… right on Zahra’s face. “We wait, of course.”

 

“For what?” the first asked.

 

The lead demon rolled his eyes and turned around. “For the Winchesters, dumbass! They’ll be coming here soon. We left enough omens to bring every hunter within a thousand miles here! But they’ll come. They always do.”

 

Zahra bit back a gasp. The Winchesters! Sam and Dean! From what she’d seen in her dream last night, what Lady Galadriel had shown her in the mirror, she knew the demon spoke the truth. Sam and Dean would come. They always did.

 

*

 

Dean Winchester settled onto the couch with a long-neck in one hand and a plate of pie in the other. He could hear the low murmurs from the kitchen of Sam and Bobby. After nearly three days of traveling with Sam again, Dean had been unable to take the awkwardness anymore. So, he did the only thing he knew how to do when times were awkward: he drove them to Bobby’s. Dean glanced to his right, watching the two pour over laptops and stacks of newspapers at the kitchen table. Then he grabbed the remote and flipped on the television, settling on an old episode of Scooby-Doo. It was a classic. The gang was running from the Creeper. Dean smiled to himself as he picked up his fork and dug into his apple pie—store bought, of course; Bobby wasn’t in the habit of baking.

 

He tried to keep his mind clear and just enjoy the pie and the cartoon. But there was something niggling at the back of his mind. He wasn’t sure what it was. He’d had this same feeling for days now, weeks, ever since he and Castiel had trapped Raphael in a circle of holy oil flame. The two angels had acted strange, like they were being watched. Then, when that dick Zachariah had sent him into the future, Lucifer-possessed Sam had acted the same way. It wasn’t anything overt. Just looking to the sides as if waiting for someone to leap out screaming, “Surprise!”

 

Whatever it was had left Dean on edge. Even the pie didn’t taste as sweet. He was just finishing it off when Sam came into the living room.

 

“Dean, you’ve got to check this out,” he said. There was no awkwardness in his demeanor, no uncertainty in his voice, so Dean didn’t let his show either.

 

“Ah, come on, Sam!” he cried, pointing to the screen with the butt of his beer bottle. “They’re just about to catch the Creeper!”

 

“Dean, you’ve seen this at least a hundred times!” Sam replied, exasperated. “Come on!” With a jerk of his chin, he went back into the kitchen.

 

Dean sighed and turned off the TV. He went into the kitchen, tossing his paper plate and fork into the trash as he went. He leaned against the kitchen sink, crossing his arms as he did so.

 

“You ready to work?” Bobby asked, grouchily.

 

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Dean held up his hands and tossed back another swallow of beer. That was the last of it. He tossed it into the trash can where it shattered. Bobby glared at him and Dean grimaced by way of apology. He went to the refrigerator and pulled out another bottle. Popping the top, he asked, “So what did you find?”

 

“Omens,” Bobby answered. “Lots of them. Making an almost direct line through Colorado.” He turned a paper map toward Dean who bent over it.

 

Colorado. The name did not set easily on his ears. He glanced sideways at Sam, careful that Bobby didn’t see. He could see on Sam’s face that he was thinking the same thing Dean was. Colorado. River Pass. War. The girl.

 

“So what?” Dean asked straightening. “It’s the Apocalypse. There are bound to be more demons around. Aren’t Rufus, Ellen and Jo still there? They can check it out.”

 

Bobby peered up at him through narrowed eyes. “They’ve moved on. Rufus is in California, and Ellen and Jo are in New Mexico. We’re the closest.”

 

Dean swore silently and took a long chug of beer to buy him some time to answer. “Bobby,” he began. “It’s just some demons. Send another hunter. Sam and I are going to look for the Colt, right, Sam?” He looked to his younger brother for back-up.

 

“Uh, yeah,” Sam said quickly. “That’s the plan.” It wasn’t even a lie. They’d discussed it on the way to Bobby’s, but didn’t know where to begin.

 

Bobby looked between the two of them, suspiciously. “Okay, what’s going on?” he finally asked.

 

“What?” Dean replied defensively.

 

“You two have been acting weird ever since you got here. Well, weirder than usual, I mean,” he amended. “What’s the deal? I know you two have had your differences, especially recently, but this is something else. So, out with it!” When neither brother answered, he shouted, “I said, out with it!”

 

Dean sighed and ran a hand over his face and then through his short sandy hair. He looked at Sam. “Show him,” he said.

 

Sam pulled his laptop closer and his fingers flew over the keyboard. When he had what he wanted he turned it around and showed Bobby.

 

The older hunter leaned forward in his wheelchair and squinted at the screen. “Yeah, the UFO. It was all over the news a month ago. Heck, some news channels are still talking about it. Some even mentioned how it looks like that ship from _Star Wars_ or whatever….” He trailed off and looked at the brothers again. “You can’t be serious,” he stated flatly.

 

Sam fidgeted in his seat and Dean shrugged.

 

“Are you boys out of your ever loving minds?” Bobby exclaimed. “Aliens? From _Star Wars_? On Earth? Aliens?!”

 

“There’s more,” Dean said.

 

“What more?” Bobby cried. He listened in growing disbelief as Dean told him about the strange girl Ellen and Jo had brought to River Pass, Colorado, and what she’d done.

 

“You told me you cut War’s ring off with your knife!” Bobby accused. He was clutching the wheels of his chair tightly as if he wanted to run Dean over with it.

 

“I lied,” Dean said apologetically. He fished the ring in question out of his jacket pocket. He set it on the table between Bobby and Sam and stared at it. It still bore bloodstains. “She used what looked a hell of a lot like a lightsaber and cut it off him herself. She went to pick it up, then stopped and started to walk away. When I called after her, she turned, took one look at us and ran off.” He thought about her, about the weariness on her face, the fear. He shook the thoughts off. “She was in Colorado, Bobby. Jo and Ellen met her in Colorado. And now we got demons leaving omens left, right and center in Colorado. Does that seem like a coincidence to you?”

 

“Whoever this girl is,” Bobby started after a moment’s pause, “what makes you think she’s an alien? Did she look… alien?”

 

“She looked human. Jo and Ellen did some tests on her without her knowing, and she read as human,” Sam said.

 

“Well, maybe she’s a hunter,” Bobby said. Bobby was in full denial mode, Dean realized. Not that he blamed him. It had taken Dean a long time, weeks, before he could face the truth. 

 

Dean shook his head. “How do you explain the lightsaber? Or the way she pushed War back and held him down without laying a hand on him?”

 

“What, you think she’s a Jedi? That _Star Wars_ is real and George Lucas has been lying to us all these years?” Bobby asked.

 

“I don’t know any of that,” Dean said. “But I do know what I saw, and it was real. _She_ was real.”

 

The three of them were silent for a long minute. Then, “Call Cas,” Bobby said. “Tell him to get his ass over here and we’ll see what he has to say about this. If anyone’ll know the truth, it’ll be him.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time, I really don't know when the next chapter will be going up, so, again, stay tuned!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra has some doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happens in this chapter, but it does move things along a bit. Not sure when I'll post again, since I'm moving at a snail's pace with this story thanks to other responsibilities, so hang in there everyone.

“So, what’s the plan?” Zahra asked in a barely audible whisper to Lowbacca. They were sitting in the cockpit of the Falcon, staring out the viewport at the demons. They didn’t know how well these demons could hear, thus the whispers. “I mean, are we just going to sit here and do nothing?”

 

Lowbacca didn’t answer for a long moment. Zahra couldn’t blame him for his silence. She was just as lost as he was, though her fear had quickly morphed into quiet anger. She felt like a prisoner on the ship and the demons were her guards. It was pissing her off.

 

The sun was sinking towards the horizon, although evening was still some hours off. The wolves were milling around the ramp, except for Thorin, his mate, Dori, and the pups, Filí, Kilí and Bilbo, as Zahra had named them. Thorin and Dori lay on the floor in the cockpit behind Zahra’s chair; the pups were play-fighting next to them. Zahra glanced at them, her expression softening with affection for the creatures and the memories they conjured up.

 

“I don’t know,” Lowie finally said.

 

Zahra turned to him, askance. “You don’t know?” She swiveled the chair towards him and scooted to the edge of the seat. “Lowie, we’re practically prisoners!”

 

“What do you suggest we do? Kill them?” he retorted in a growl. “From what that woman, Ellen, told you, the demons are possessing those bodies, which means the people inside are innocent. _They_ are the prisoners!”

 

“I know that!” she hissed back and then sighed as her anger left her. “I just don’t like this. I wish I could remember how to get them out!”

 

“What do we need?” Lowie asked.

 

“Holy water and salt hurt them. Then there’s some kind of demon trap that you draw on the ground, or on something, and an incantation. Actually it sounds a lot like sorcery, to me,” she mumbled. “But I don’t know where to find the water, and I don’t remember the incantation, and I don’t know what the trap looks like. And we’d have a hell of a time getting out of here without one of them finding out. They could detect it.”

 

“So we can’t do anything,” Lowie surmised.

 

Zahra grimaced. “No,” she mouthed sullenly.

 

Lowbacca looked at her for a long moment then patted her head. “Have faith, young one,” he said. “The Force will see us through this.”

 

Zahra gave an obligatory nod, but her thoughts bled doubt. She was finding it harder and harder to have faith in the Force these days. But then, how could she explain her dreams? Surely the Force was behind them. What else could it be? She shuddered to think of the alternative. Those red eyes that looked at her cruelly, mockingly. A light in a darkness so deep there was no end to it. She shook her head. She could not think about that. She could not.

 

“What troubles you?” Lowie asked into the silence.

 

She sighed again and slumped into her seat. “My thoughts are dark. Full of doubt… and anger.” She was only mildly surprised at her own confession. Lowie was a Jedi Knight. He knew the ways of the Force far better than she did.

 

“These are natural,” he said after a pause. “Search your feelings for their root and examine it. Only then, can you overcome them.”

 

“You sound like Master Danai,” Zahra said.

 

Lowie tilted his head in a gesture of acknowledgement. “A wise woman indeed,” he said. “And a powerful Jedi Knight. She knew the Force almost as well as the Grand Master. It came naturally to her, like breathing.”

 

It took a moment, but Zahra suddenly realized he was speaking of Master Danai in the past tense… as if she were dead.

 

“She’s not dead,” she growled at him. Lowie’s dark eyes widened. “She’s alive! And when we get off this blasted rock, we’ll go home and find her!” Zahra surged to her feet and strode out of the cockpit, stepping over the playing pups as she went.

 

She went to her room, and threw herself onto her cot, staring above her unseeingly. She knew she was being childish, but she didn’t care. Master Danai was alive! She had to be!

 

Zahra tried and failed to sleep. As night fell over the world, she left her room and went into the kitchen. Lowbacca was there, heating water over the stove to pour into a packet of rehydrated noodles. “I’m sorry,” she said. Lowie looked at her, no anger in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

 

“You would not have done so if you did not also have doubts,” he murmured.

 

She stared at him for a moment in stunned silence. Then the truth of his words hit her and she sucked in a breath. She looked down, fighting the urge to cry. It took a moment, but she succeeded. When she looked up, he was still watching her, sensing the struggle within.

 

“Still, I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.

 

“You are forgiven,” he said. “Dinner is almost ready.” Then he went back to his water heating.

 

He knew she didn’t want to talk about her feelings, her doubts, so he wasn’t pressing her to do so. Zahra felt a strong surge of affection for the Wookiee and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his furry chest. “Thank you, Lowie,” she whispered quietly.

 

“You are quite welcome, Zahra,” he replied, patting her back with one hand and turning off the stove with the other.

 

She released him and held out the food packets. He poured the water in, and, once the food was ready, they dug in.

 

*

 

Castiel appeared with a flutter of wings in Bobby’s kitchen less than a second after Dean hung up the phone.

 

"What is it?” he asked.

 

“Take a look at this!” Bobby snapped and turned Sam’s laptop so the angel could see it. Castiel walked over, bent at the waist and examined the image on the screen. He was silent for several long seconds and Dean began to get antsy.

 

When Cas finally straightened his face was blank, but Dean could tell that something was off.

 

“What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?” Castiel said.

 

“Tell him!” Bobby ordered.

 

Dean nodded to Sam and, with a sigh, Sam told Castiel about the girl they’d seen in River Pass, Colorado, the girl that Ellen and Jo had met. He told Cas about what he and Dean had seen her do to War and how she had run off afterwards. When that part of the story was finished, he told him about the demons and how they seemed to be  making a line right to where the ship had disappeared.

 

“Tell him the other thing,” Bobby demanded.

 

Sam sighed. “The ship, the girl’s weapon,” he began haltingly. “It looks a lot like something from _Star Wars_.”

 

“ _Star Wars_?” Cas repeated with a frown.

 

Instead of answering, Sam pulled his laptop to him, his fingers flying over the keys. When he turned it back around, a video began to play. It was a trailer for the original trilogy of Star Wars, the re-mastered edition. Dean had to look away, listening to the voiceover and the sound effects and music. When it was finished, silence hung over the kitchen.

 

“So,” Cas began after a long moment, “it’s a movie?”

 

“Three movies actually,” Sam said. “Well six now, I guess, but yeah. Plus cartoon shows, and lots of books.”

 

“I see,” Cas replied.

 

“Is this for real?” Bobby asked. “Are we actually saying that we got fictional characters from a fictional movie on our world?”

 

Dean shrugged. “Hey, lots of people think we’re fictional,” he said.

 

Sam nodded. “Why can’t _Star Wars_ be real?”

 

“You two are taking this awfully well, don’t’cha think?”

 

“Bobby we’ve known about this for a couple of weeks. It’s had time to sink in,” Sam said.

 

Bobby growled. He looked at Castiel. “Well? What’s your take on all this?” he asked.

 

Castiel looked at him, then at Sam, then at Dean, then back at the computer screen. “I’ll be back,” he said and then vanished.

 

“I hate it when he does that,” Bobby grumbled.

 

*

 

Zahra sat on the ground outside the Falcon watching the demons. She couldn’t sleep, and the night was wearing on. She tugged on her Padawan braid, twisting it around her fingers in nervousness. Most of the demons were sprawled on the ground in various states of repose. One of them, the leader, was pacing back and forth. He was agitated, clearly, and Zahra could only guess at why. Perhaps he didn’t like his current assignment? If that were so, he could leave, for all she cared. The lone female in the group, one Zahra didn’t remember from town, was pouting beneath a tree. It was obvious what her thoughts were.

 

Zahra sighed and wondered if there was any way to expel the demons from the host bodies without killing the hosts themselves. She thought back to Jo and Rufus “exorcising” Sam Winchester, but could not remember the incantation. She tugged hard on her braid and grimaced at the pain it caused on her scalp. She dropped her hand and leaned back on both. One of the wolves, the one she’d named Balin because he was old and had snowy-white hairs around his muzzle reminding her of the older dwarf, came over and lay beside her. She reached out a hand and stroked his fur, from the top of his head to the middle of his back. He sighed in contentment and closed his eyes.

 

She petted him absently, using the rhythmic movement to clear her mind. She closed her eyes and for a long while simply meditated, becoming one with the Force as much as she could, letting the strength and power of it thrum through her. It was like she had dipped her toe into the vast sea of existence and small waves were breaking across her feet. There was so much out there, so much to see, to feel and she bad barely brushed the surface.

 

Then she sensed something. A blaze of light in the Force trailing closer and closer. It hovered, just above her. She tried to open her eyes but failed. Fighting panic, she reached out to this hovering light and brushed against it mentally. She expected it to recoil but instead it reached back and ….

 

“Oh,” she breathed. It was like a hand was being placed on her head, soothing and filled with compassion. It stayed there for a long, long minute, then it was gone. The light retreated until she couldn’t sense it anymore.

 

Zahra opened her eyes. She stared up at the sky, having unthinkingly tilted her head back. She wasn’t sure what that light had been but she did know what it had been telling her. It hadn’t been in words, only feelings and impressions but what it had said was that everything would be all right.

 

Zahra looked back at the demons as peace settled over her.

 

The Winchesters would come.

 

*

 

Castiel appeared in Bobby’s kitchen again, causing the three men to jump.

 

“Well?” Bobby asked agitatedly.

 

Castiel looked between the three of them. “I believe you are right,” he said.

 

“About what?”

 

"About everything,” Castiel said.

 

“Are you for real?” Dean asked. While he’d gotten used to the idea, he hadn’t fully believed that there were aliens from _Star Wars_ on Earth. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to believe it.

 

Castiel frowned and tilted his head. “Of course I’m real,” he said.

 

Dean rolled his eyes and didn’t even bother to explain. Luckily, Sam had more patience. “No, he means, are you sure?”

 

“Positive.” Castiel nodded firmly.

 

After a moment of stunned silence, Bobby said. “So, now what?”

 

Sam stood. “Isn’t it obvious? We go take out the demons and investigate to see if this is real.”

 

“I just said it was real,” Castiel pointed out.

 

“Well, we have to see it with our own eyes,” Sam said.

 

“You say you saw this girl in River Pass,” Castiel replied. “What other proof do you need?”

 

“A lot,” Dean said, bringing a swift end to the conversation with his decisive tone. “Let’s pack up and head out.”

 

"I’m coming too,” Bobby said. Before Sam or Dean could shoot down that decision, he added, “And don’t say it’ll be too much for me. I may be in a wheelchair, but I’m still a hunter. I can take out a few demons. And I want to see this space ship with my own eyes.”

 

Sam and Dean exchanged a look and nodded in agreement at Bobby. “Okay,” Dean said. To Cas, he said, “What about you, Chuckles? You coming?”

 

“I am,” Castiel said. He frowned again.

 

“What is it?” Dean asked.

 

Cas looked at him. “Nothing. I will meet you there.” And he disappeared again.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang's all here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abbie, back so soon, you ask? Why yes, yes, I am. Imagine that. Honestly I don't know how I did this. I just sat down and wrote this out, letting the creative juices flow, and boy were they flowing. Took me a couple of hours, but ta-da! I had a lot of fun and am satisfied with the result and just had to share it with you all. I didn't even proof-read it! (Perhaps I should have. Hmmm.)
> 
> Enjoy!

They drove straight through the night and by early afternoon of the next day Dean, Sam and Bobby had reached Colorado. Dean could not help the foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach, that uncomfortable nervous feeling that he always got just before a hunt. Yet he knew this was no ordinary hunt. There were demons to kill at the end of this, but there was also something else. Something extraordinary that would change the way he viewed the universe forever after. Demons, shapeshifters, vampires, werewolves, and all the other creatures he, Sam and his father had hunted for as long as he could remember, those were easy enough to grasp. He had never doubted their existence. Angels and God were a bit harder to wrap his head around and he had. But aliens? _Aliens?_ This was almost too much.

 

He stepped out of the Impala and shut the door with an almost unnecessary _bang_. He walked around to the back and pulled Bobby’s wheelchair out of the backseat, set it up and waited as Bobby and Sam managed to get the older hunter into it with a great deal of grumbling and cursing. Once Bobby was situated, Dean strode to the trunk and popped it open.

 

“I don’t know what we’ll find out here,” he said looking around at the forested area, the mountains looming large in the distance, “but let’s stock up.” Sam and Bobby nodded in agreement, the enormity of what they were doing keeping them silent.

 

They weighed themselves down with salt-filled shotguns shells, silver knives and holy water. Dean slipped the demon blade into his belt and made sure he had plenty of spare rounds for his handgun. Finally, he lifted out his sawed-off shotgun and slammed the trunk shut. He went to the driver’s side and locked Baby up tight. He’d pulled off the road onto a flat stretch of land, hiding the car behind some low bushes, but leaving his car here did not sit well with him. He patted Baby on her hood and led the way into the trees. Sam followed, pushing Bobby along in his wheelchair.

 

Dean glanced back over his shoulder a few times, concern for the older hunter weighing on his mind. The ground was uneven thanks to roots, fallen limbs and mounds of decaying leaves, but the determined expression on Bobby’s face kept him from saying anything.

 

“Where exactly do you think they are?” he asked after they’d been walking for about fifteen minutes.

 

They paused as Sam pulled a map out of his jacket and examined it, turning it this way and that to determine their exact position. “Uh,” he said after a long moment. “I’m not sure.” He looked up sheepishly. Bobby rolled his eyes and shook his head.

 

Dean bit back an angry curse and closed his eyes.

 

“Call Cas,” he said. Then he leaned back against a tree to wait.

 

Sam pulled out his phone and began to scroll for Cas’s number, but before he could dial it, the angel himself appeared in front of them.

 

“Dean, Sam, Bobby,” the angel greeted them one by one with a nod each.

 

“We were just about to call you,” Sam said, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

 

“I know,” Castiel said. “I’ve been waiting here for you.” He looked among them. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time. The demons have begun to move.” With that mysterious statement he turned and led them deeper into the forest.

 

*

 

Zahra was confused. It was becoming a recurring theme these days, but now even more so. She had meditated all through the night and into the early morning when her attention had been caught by the demons. They weren’t lazing about anymore. The leader had stopped his pacing and the female had climbed to her feet, and all of them had huddled tightly together before dispersing. The female walked to Zahra’s left, remaining, of course, just outside the Force shield and disappeared into the trees out of sight. The rest of the demons had fanned out in front of her, facing the ship. For several hours they had stayed like that.

 

At the first sign of something happening, Zahra had fetched Lowie and the two of them had discussed, in fervent whispers, their options. They had few, and all of them ended with them killing the demons and also their hosts, something both Jedi were strongly against. Zahra had also told him of the Force presence she had sensed the previous evening and the knowledge she had been given that the Winchesters were on their way. While this had soothed her, it had put Lowbacca on his guard.

 

“I cannot help but feel as if we are pawns in some game,” he had said.

 

As soon as he’d said it Zahra had a flash of insight. “I think we are,” she’d whispered, glancing once more at the demons.

 

Lowbacca, frowning, had paused for a moment and then replied, “We must prepare.”

 

The droids had powered up and were conducting scans of the area. If they found anything they were to hale them on the comlinks. The wolves Zahra had herded beneath the ship, behind the ramp. She had impressed upon them mentally the need for them to hide and stay hidden no matter what. She also told them through the mental link that should she and Lowbacca die they were to run into the forest and not return. Thorin had whined at this. She’d shushed him, given him and all the pack swift hugs before returning to Lowie’s side.

 

It was now nearing noon and Zahra stood placidly with Lowie, both waiting for the right moment to come to reveal themselves. It happened sooner than she had guessed. Threepio haled Lowie’s comlink and the Wookiee had gone inside to see what they had found. When he returned, Zahra listened as he told her what the droids had found. Three humans were approaching from the south, and another being that read as human and something more. Zahra stretched out with the Force and found them. She recognized the Force signatures of Sam and Dean Winchester. The other human she did not know and the fourth. It was a Force presence.... There was something familiar about it….

 

“I feel them,” she said. “They’re almost here.” She pulled herself up to her full height and licked her lips in anticipation.

 

“Patience,” Lowbacca warned gently. “We must have patience.”

 

Zahra nodded but she could not help but feel that patience was a little overrated.

 

*

 

Dean held up a hand for quiet and lowered himself to a crouch. He moved forward quietly and ducked behind a large bush. Sam pushed Bobby forward cautiously before ducking down next to Dean. Castiel stayed standing until Dean motioned for him to get down. The angel crouched next to Sam.

 

“There’re the demons,” Dean said. He counted quickly. “Six of them. Not too many.” He scanned the small clearing. “I don’t see the ship.”

 

“It’s there,” Castiel replied.

 

“How do you know?” Dean asked.

 

“I can see it,” Castiel said. He was gazing intently forward. “I see the girl. Red hair, green eyes. She is standing next to a tall, hairy creature.”

 

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. A tall, hairy creature? A Wookiee?

 

“Okay, so now what?” Bobby asked. He was gripping his shotgun tightly and Dean realized the last time Bobby had been near demons, he’d been possessed and lost the use of his legs. This couldn’t be easy for him.

 

“Let’s go in, guns blazing,” Dean said.

 

“No, Dean, we have to be smart about this,” Sam objected. “What if it’s a trap?”

 

“What do you mean?” Bobby asked.

 

“I mean look at them. They’re waiting,” Sam said.

 

“For what? Us?” Dean asked.

 

Sam shrugged. “Us. Or her.”

 

“The girl?” Castiel asked.

 

Sam nodded then shrugged again. “Maybe, I don’t know,” he said. “This all just feels a bit too… convenient.”

 

“And you say this now, after we’ve driven all this way?” Bobby demanded silently.

 

Dean sighed, also a bit irritated with Sam. If he’d had doubts why hadn’t he shared them earlier, or last night, before they got here?

 

Before he could say anything, Castiel spoke up. “We can’t turn back now,” he said. “They’re waiting for us.”

 

“Who?” Bobby asked.

 

“The girl and her companion.” With that he stood. “Let’s go.”

 

He broke cover before the hunters could stop him and strode forward. Cursing under his breath, Dean followed with Sam and Bobby on his tail.

 

*

 

When she saw them, she knew the time had come. But Lowie stayed firm. “Let’s watch first,” he said.

 

The demons turned on a dime and surged forward towards Dean, Sam and their two friends. She recognized the older man in the wheelchair; she’d seen him in Galadriel’s mirror. But the other man… She had met him before, briefly, not even long enough to catch his name, and she had seen him with Sam and Dean in the mirror as well. His eyes, bright blue, were trained on her face for a long, long beat and she realized he could see her through the Force shield. But was surprised her even more was that this was not the man, being, whatever, who had come to her to tell her, without words, that the Winchesters were coming. If not him, then who?

 

Zahra breathed out a breath of relief. And she disobeyed Lowbacca.

 

The Winchesters and their wheelchair-bound friend were firing shot after shot at the demons. The demons would go down then get back up. Soon the Winchesters were out of ammo in their shotguns and were unable to reload because then the demons were upon them. They stood in front of their older friend as he reloaded, protecting him. They were outnumbered. Then Dean pulled out a knife. She recognized it as the one Sam had used to kill the young men in River Pass. When Dean shoved it into the chest of one of the demons, it was lit up from inside with a golden-orange light and she felt the demon and his host die.

 

It was too much. Into this melee, Zahra ran. Stepping through the Force shield she called out, “Hey!” and the fighting stopped. All the faces turned to look at her and she caught Dean Winchester’s eye. For a moment she was transported back to River Pass, after she had defeated War. She blinked and looked down at the ground at the man he’d killed. She walked forward and knelt beside him. “You didn’t have to kill him,” she said.

 

“What?” Dean asked his voice filled with disbelief.

 

She looked up at him, her eyes sparking angrily. “I know there are ways to rid the host bodies of demons without killing them!” she snapped. “Why didn’t you try?”

 

“Because it takes too damn long! Besides these poor bastards would be better off dead anyway!” he shouted back.

 

There was a grunt behind him and he whirled. Zahra saw Sam struggling against another demon while two more came at the man in the wheelchair. She surged to her feet, gripped the demons with the Force and slammed them down to the ground. Sam, Dean, and their two friends blinked at her in shock. “I’ll give you time,” she said.

 

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” Dean replied heatedly. “Do you know what it’s like to be possessed?” She opened her mouth but he cut her off before she even drew a breath. “No, you don’t! These people are being tormented every second of every minute. It’s a mercy to kill them.”

 

“Mercy?” she repeated. “What do you know of mercy?”

 

“Zahra,” Lowie said. She turned to see that he had dropped the Force shield and the ship was exposed. Artoo and Threepio were coming down the ramp now that the danger had passed and Thorin poked his head out from behind the ramp. She felt the shock ripple through the demons and humans and the man in the tan coat, but she ignored them.

 

“Lowie, you can’t believe—,” she began but he held up a hand.

 

“Listen,” he said. He looked down at struggling demons, held fast by the Force and Zahra’s own will. “Listen.”

 

She followed his eyes and looked down at the demons. She closed her eyes and focused on the mind of the leader, digging deep, deep down, pushing back against the darkness and finding the light of the human within. She listened… and she heard his pain, so much of it, unending. He was conscious to a degree, aware of what was happening to him and terrified out of his mind. He was in so much pain. He wanted it to end, finally, completely end. Zahra sighed, long and heavily. She dug into the minds of the other demons and found the same desires: for their suffering to end. She opened her eyes and looked at the leader.

 

He sneered at her, knowing what she had sensed and laughing at her compassion. “You’re weak,” he said. “Weak! And pathetic.”

 

“Really?” she said. “Then why are you the one on the ground?”

 

His eyes went full black, demon black and he yelled obscenities at her. She ignored him and looked up at Dean. He, Sam and the other two were staring in stupefaction past her, looking from the ship, the droids, Lowie and back.

 

“What’s the matter?” she asked them. “Never seen a space ship before?”

 

Dean looked at her. “No,” he said. He looked at her for a long minute, his gaze searching her face, for what she did not know.

 

She tore her own gaze away at last and nodded at the demons. “Kill them.”

 

“You’re sure?” he asked.

 

She nodded, but stayed silent. Dean walked from captured demon to captured demon and stabbed the blade into their hearts. She did not watch, but she felt the demons die and the humans find their relief.

 

With the trouble finished, the wolves crept out from under the ship. Dean raised his gun but she pushed it down. “They are no threat,” she told him.

 

She surveyed the corpses and only then realized there was a demon missing. “Uh-oh,” she said.

 

“What?” the man in the wheelchair asked.

 

“There’s one missing,” she said. “The female.” She looked up toward the trees. “She went off this morning. I don’t know where she is.”

 

“Okay, stay calm,” Sam said. “Which way did she go?”

 

Zahra pointed. “That way.”

 

“We’ll go look, you stay here,” Dean said.

 

“Yeah, no thanks, I’m coming with you.”

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dean said, holding up a hand to stop her.

 

“Why not?” she asked.

 

Dean looked at her askance. “Uh, hello,” he waved a hand at the clearing at large, taking in Lowie, the droids, wolves and ship.

 

“You don’t trust us,” she said.

 

“Would you?” he replied.

 

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be foolish,” she snapped. “I helped you.” She gestured at the dead bodies between them.

 

“And thank you for that,” he replied condescendingly. “But this is just one demon. I think Sam and I can handle it.”

 

“Wait, what?” Sam spoke up, but was ignored.

 

“I’m coming with you, whether you like it or not,” Zahra growled.

 

“No, you’re not!” Dean shot back with just as much heat.

 

“Yes, I am!”

 

“No, you’re not!”

 

“YES, I AM!”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Sam said stepping up and lifting his hands in a placating gesture. “Let’s just relax a minute here, okay?”

 

“Zahra, stay calm,” Lowie added.

 

“I’m tired of staying calm!” she shouted at him.

 

“Shouting doesn’t help. Losing your temper doesn’t help,” he said. “We have an enemy on the loose and we must work together to find her.”

 

“What is he saying?” Dean demanded to know.

 

She turned to him and sneered, her face twisting with the expression.

 

“Hey, don’t look at me like that!” he shouted.

 

“Like what?” she asked, still sneering.

 

“Like I’m an idiot!”

 

“Sorry, but you are, and this is my patented, ‘geez, you’re a dumbass’ face!” She shrugged. “Get used to it. Something tells me you’ll be seeing it a lot.”

 

Lowbacca sighed. Sam choked on a laugh. The man in the wheelchair bit back a smile. The other being merely watched.

 

“WHAT?!” Dean roared.

 

**_KA-BOOM!_ **

 

The explosion came out of nowhere and Zahra was flung back with the force of it. She lay stunned for a minute, a ringing in her ears, her head pounding. Her heart stopped for just a second before starting back up again. She sat up, or tried to. Her vision swam, and she blacked out for a moment. When she came back to herself, Thorin was crouched next to her whimpering and tugging at her shirt with his teeth. She managed to sit up this time and pushed him aside. She looked around.

 

The man in the wheelchair was sprawled on the ground, his chair knocked onto its side. Zahra, slowly but determinedly, climbed to her feet and walked over to him. He looked up at her as she straightened his chair, then bent and tried to lift him. He pushed back at her, shaking his head and mouthing something but she could not hear him.

 

 _Oh, I see_ , she thought. _I’ve gone deaf._ The thought left her surprisingly calm.

 

He was pointing behind her and she frowned, pointing to her ears and shaking her head, abruptly stopping when her vision clouded again. He reached up, grabbed her hand and pointed.

 

She turned slowly, feeling a sudden heat at her back. When she finally faced the heat she felt her heart stop again for just an instant, before thundering on again faster than it had ever beat before.

 

The Millennium Falcon was destroyed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, this chapter was a fluke. I started it, knowing how I needed to end it, but not sure how to get there. The demon stuff is a bit anti-climatic, I know, but I wanted to get them out of the way as quickly as possible. There will be more, I mean, this is Supernatural I'm dealing with, right?
> 
> Anyway, fluke that it is, I really don't know when the next one will go up or how long it will be or anything. So, stay tuned, dear readers!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the explosion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, destroying the ship took me by surprise. I did not have it planned when I began writing this fic, or even the previous chapter. But it seemed like the right thing to do, story-wise. 
> 
> I hope you all are enjoying this story and leave a comment below letting me know what you think so far. Thanks! 
> 
> (Not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.)
> 
> Edit: I added a few things to this chapter to fix a few issues.

The world seemed to have slowed down. Everything was muffled but sound was returning, slowly, and Zahra realized she had been premature before out of shock: she had not lost her hearing. Instead of feeling relief, she felt sad. Not because her hearing was returning in the form of a ringing in her ears and muffled shouts, but because her life had suddenly and swiftly taken a turn.

 

The ship wasn’t completely gone, but it may as well have been. Half of it was burning and smoldering. The rest of the ship was scorched black with ash settling on it in a gray-black shroud. The ramp was twisted and bent in half. The fire streaked into the sky, embers falling down onto the ground, catching the grass ablaze as well. Artoo, bless that little astro-mech, was buzzing around putting the fires out as best he could. Threepio, per his usual, was hobbling in circles, hands raised as he fretted.

 

Zahra could only stand there, clutching the older man’s hand in hers. She could tell her grip was hurting him because she felt a grimace of pain from him, but she did not let go. She couldn’t. He was the only thing keeping her from falling to pieces. When she felt a tug on her hand, she, slowly, so slowly, turned to look down at him. His mouth was moving. She concentrated and focused on his lips trying to read the words that he was saying and could just barely make them out. It was like they were coming from the bottom of a well.

 

“Can you help me into my chair?” he asked.

 

She nodded and bent. He slipped his arms around her neck and, with a pull on the Force to give her strength, she lifted him from the ground and into his chair. She helped him to situate his motionless legs and then turned to the ship again.

 

 _Now what?_ she thought. _After all this, now what do I do?_

 

She was dimly aware of Dean and Sam running around. She didn’t know what they were doing and she didn’t care… until Dean ran up to her. He was shouting and she could just barely discern it.

 

“Zahra!” he shouted, gripping her shoulders tightly.

 

She frowned at him in question. She was so numb, she didn’t even care that his grip was too tight. It hurt.

 

The man in the tan coat came over to them and touched the side of her head. She turned to look at him. His hand slid down her cheek and she felt the Force pulse between them. Then the muffling cloud that had blanketed her ears was lifted and all was bedlam.

 

The fire roared. Birds took to the sky with cries of terror. The wolves were running around, howling and barking. Artoo was beeping frantically still trying to put out the flames. Threepio’s program-panicked shouts of “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!” were a sorrowful refrain.

 

“Is she okay?” Dean asked the man in the tan coat.

 

“She’s in shock, but her eardrums are repaired,” he replied. His eyes were so blue, intense and watchful. “Tell her.”

 

“Tell me what?” Zahra asked. The sound of her own voice shocked her. She sounded dead.

 

“Your friend’s hurt,” Dean said. His grip on her shoulders relaxed then tightened when she swayed.

 

She looked at him, eyes growing wide, jaw slackened in shock. Her first thought was that this had to be some kind of twisted nightmare. Her second thought, with a surge of strength and will that astounded even her, was a firm and forceful, _No!_ She would not lose Lowie too.

 

“Lowbacca,” she breathed and pushed past Dean and his friend. She looked around and finally began to take stock of the situation.

 

A quick look around told her that none of the wolves had died, though this brought her small comfort. She spotted Lowie lying on the ground with Sam crouched over him, his hands folded over Lowie’s abdomen. Even before she got to them, she saw that the hairs on his stomach and the ground below were drenched and matted in the Wookiee’s life blood. With Force speed, she was at his side.

 

“Lowie, my friend, hold on!” she begged.

 

“Urgh. Do not fight the will of the Force,” he told her with a grimace.

 

“This is not the will of the Force!” she shot back. Gently, belying the urgency of her words, she prized Sam’s hands away to get a look at the wound. It looked bad. Worse, by far, than when she’d been shot. “I refuse to believe the Force wants this to happen.” She could feel the younger Winchester watching her, and his brother and friends were crowding closer. “We’ve come too far, seen and done too much, for this to be the end. Keep your hands on him!” She pushed Sam’s hands down again, Lowie’s blood coating their fingers red. She stared at it for a moment then shook herself from her reverie. “Don’t die, Lowie, please.” She hated how weak she sounded, how scared and lost. But then, she was all those things, and had been for weeks, months. She’d kept up a good façade thus far but it was beginning to slip, just as she could see her future slipping through her bloodied fingers as her way home burned behind her.

 

She looked up at Sam. “Keep him talking,” she said. “I know you can’t understand him, but keep him talking, or you talk to him. Just make sure he stays awake.”

 

He nodded.

 

She pushed to her feet and ran to Threepio, Dean at her heels. She grabbed the protocol droid’s arm and wrenched him around.

 

“Mistress Zahra!” he cried. “Oh dear, oh dear, what do we do? What do we do? The ship is gone, Lowbacca is dying! Oh dear, oh dear!”

 

“Shut up!” she snapped, not bothering to correct him on the title. “We need to get the bacta tank out and as much of the bacta as we can. Artoo!” she called to the little droid and he descended to her side. “Come on, I need help! I don’t know what it’s like inside the ship, but put out as much of the fire as you can while we work.” He beeped at her and hurried up the ramp, having to use his hover jets to make his way up as he couldn’t find a safe path. She turned to Dean and grabbed his jacket sleeve. “You’re with me. Come on, Threepio!” She ripped off a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around her nose and mouth. Dean pulled out a red patterned square piece of cloth and did the same.

 

She led the way into the ship, keeping her head down as noxious smoke choked the insides. It stung her eyes and they watered, tears streaming down her cheeks as she groped along. She touched the side of ship and cried out as it burned her.

 

“You okay?” Dean asked from behind her.

 

She nodded and grabbed his hand to lead him along and if she held on tighter than she needed to she told herself it was to make sure he didn’t get lost. She didn’t touch the sides of the ship again; instead she made her way from memory, using the Force to guide her.

 

The further into the ship they journeyed the less smoke there was. When she reached her destination, the air was almost clear, a faint haze hanging over everything. She didn’t know where Artoo was, probably trying to save as much of the ship as he could, and she didn’t have time to worry about him. She lifted up the flooring with a grunt and heaved it back.

 

“You two stay here,” she said to Dean and Threepio and jumped down into the hold.

 

The hold was untouched by the flames, thankfully, and she had no problem finding what she needed. First, she started with the small things: the computer to monitor vitals, several medical injections and a stand for the computer. Dean piled these into Threepio’s arms and the droid hurried out of the ship. Next, Zahra lifted container after container of liquid bacta out of the hold. She took as many as there were (twenty) and prayed it would be enough.

 

“I can’t carry all of these!” Dean shouted down to her.

 

She looked around and found a hover cart wedged behind several crates of innocuous items. Once she had moved the crates, she lifted the cart out then jumped up. She turned it on and helped Dean load the containers one by one. The work was taxing; sweat poured down their faces and necks, soaking their clothes. Zahra pretended not to notice her bloody handprints on everything. Some of it was Lowie’s, some of it was hers, but it all mixed together on the containers. When, finally, the cart was loaded, she watched Dean maneuver his way down the hall, gripping the handle tightly.

 

“Almost finished,” she muttered to herself.

 

Back into the hold she went and she fumbled along to the bacta tank. It was huge, but with the Force, she could move it with ease. Getting it out of the hold was tricky (she had to angle it just right to get it through the opening), but she managed it. She floated it through the ship, and was relieved to see that the fires were out. Artoo had done his work well. She didn’t spare the damaged parts of the ship a glance. She could do that later, once Lowie was situated in the tank.

 

Out in the clearing, she set the tank down carefully, then she, Artoo, and Threepio got busy. They hooked up the computer and powered it on. Ripping off her makeshift mask, she jumped to the top and pulled off the lid. Dean handed her container after container and she poured the liquid bacta into the tank. At the halfway point, she stopped, moving to Lowie’s side again.

 

“How are you?” she asked him.

 

“Oh, I’ve been better,” he said.

 

She tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. “I brought the tank out. It’s ready for you.”

 

He turned his head to look. “Good work, young one.”

 

She nodded to Sam. “Keep your hands on his wound until you can’t anymore.”

 

“Okay,” he grunted.

 

Now came the hard part: putting Lowbacca in the tank without causing him any unnecessary pain. It was useless. Every time they shifted him just a little, he yowled in pain. Zahra wanted to apologize but she didn’t waste her breath. He knew she didn’t want to hurt him, but it couldn’t be helped.

 

“Artoo!” she called.

 

The droid beeped and plugged in to the tank’s data port. After a moment, the tank lit up inside and the seat and breather detached from the bottom, sliding up the sides of the tank on spindly, bouncing arms. Zahra jumped on top again and lifted Lowie from the arms of Sam, Dean, and their other friend with the Force. Sam let go and Lowie’s wound bled freely though the flow wasn’t heavy, more of a trickle. Zahra wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

 

Lowie slid into the tank and fumbled with his huge feet for the seats leg holes. Finding them he reached out and grabbed the mask. When he fumbled again, Zahra took it and gently slipped it over his head. Then he floated and blinked up at her to let her know he was ready for the rest.

 

More bacta was poured over him until he bobbed up and down. The normally clear bacta had already begun to take on a pinkish tinge as his blood flowed into it. Zahra shut the top and sealed it tightly. Then she jumped down, stumbled and hurried to the computer. With the push of a few buttons, the turning of dials and the input of information, the tank began to hum to life. Oxygen was pumped into the tank from outside and Lowbacca’s eyes began to droop shut.

 

With one last wink at Zahra, they closed at last.

 

Zahra was exhausted. She let out a long, heavy sigh that took the last of her strength with it. Her legs gave out and she dropped to the ground, crossing them carefully and looking down at her bloody hands. Thorin came over and leaned against her. She was bloody and sweaty and stank of smoke and fumes, but he didn’t seem to care. Neither did Zahra, for that matter.

 

The sun was brushing the horizon to the west as silence fell over the assembled party. Only the hum of the tank filled the air. When it stretched on too long for any of them to be comfortable, Zahra closed her eyes, took a deep breath and looked up.

 

Without a trace of irony she said, “Hello.”

 

The four men blinked at her and when they saw she wasn’t smiling they shifted uncomfortably, murmuring hellos in kind. They all seemed to be at a loss now that the excitement was past. _Some excitement_ , Zahra thought ruefully, watching them.

 

“Names?” she prompted, bluntly. She pointed at the brothers. “I already know you two. Sam and Dean Winchester.”

 

“And you’re Zahra Rivers,” Sam said.

 

“Ellen tell you that?” she asked.

 

“She did.” Dean nodded. He exchanged a look with Sam that she couldn’t read.

 

She looked between them for a moment then turned to the older man. “And you, sir?”

 

“Bobby Singer,” he said.                               

 

“Nice to meet you,” she said. “I’d get up and shake your hand, but I’m afraid my legs have stopped working. Oh, sorry," she quickly added eyeing his legs in shame. He shrugged and waved off her apology. With a small smile, she turned her attention to another issue. "And my hands are covered in blood.” She looked at them and frowned at the blistering burns on her right hand. “And it appears I burned myself in the ship. Artoo, fetch me something to clean this with, please.” She didn’t like to order him around like this, but at the moment, she was past politeness.

 

Artoo didn’t seem to mind, and whistled obligingly before heading back into the ship.

 

While she waited for him she looked at the fourth man, the one who was connected to the light side of the Force, the one she’d seen in her dream. “I know you too, though I do not know your name.”

 

“How do you know him?” Dean asked, glancing between the two of them.

 

“I had a dream,” she said. “He was there. And then he wasn’t.”

 

“That tells me nothing,” Dean muttered. Everyone ignored him.

 

“My name is Castiel, and I am an Angel of the Lord,” the man from her dream said.

 

She blinked at him. “Huh. No idea what that means.”

 

“The Lord is God,” Castiel said, frowning slightly at her.

 

“Is God like the Force?” she asked tiredly.

 

“You could say that,” Sam said. He glanced at Dean who shook his head slightly.

 

She wondered at the exchange but was distracted when Artoo rolled to her side. “Thanks,” she told him and took the first-aid kit he offered. He beeped and returned to the bacta tank’s side. While the men watched, she brought out a small lantern no bigger than an oil can and set it up. It illuminated her and the area around her with bright white artificial light, as the sun was disappearing slowly beyond the horizon. Under the curious gazes of the four men, she carefully cleaned her hands of any and all blood, then set about doctoring her injured hand.

 

“So how did you find me?” she asked as she worked, in a tone so blasé she might have been discussing the weather.

 

“We followed the signs,” Bobby said, leaning back casually in his chair.

 

She looked up at that. “What signs?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

They explained and she listened in quiet silence.

 

“So we were spotted,” she said when they finished. “Imagine that. Guess the Force can’t fool cameras. Not surprising.” She threw another bloodied wipe onto the ground and fished out a tube of gel bacta. She unscrewed it telekinetic-ally as she thought over their words. “And these demons,” she continued rubbing the gel onto her burned palm, glancing at the dead bodies. “They led you here, to me?”

 

“That’s right,” Bobby said. “Any idea how they could have known you were here?”

 

She put away the tube and pulled out a bandage wrap, mulling over Bobby’s question. How had they found them? She hadn’t been able to come to a conclusion before but now that she thought about it, _really_ gave it thought, she came to at least one conclusion.

 

“Lowie and I were using the Force to hide us,” she mused aloud. “Perhaps so much of it concentrated in one spot acted as a beacon. In trying to hide ourselves, we exposed ourselves. Talk about ironic.”

 

She wrapped her hand carefully and pulled a silver clasp out of the kit to hold the bandages in place. Finished, she held her hand up and examined it. Not perfect, but it would do. She shut the kit and gathered up the used wipes, but then, not knowing what to do with them, she put them back down.

 

“Then there’s that other guy,” she said into the silence. Smoke curled into the sky from the ship and she watched it thin out and disappear into the twilight. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the ship directly. She was afraid of what she would see.

 

“What other guy?” Castiel asked. He, Sam, Dean, and Bobby had waited patiently as she worked, but she could tell they were eager for whatever information she could give them.

 

“The second night we were here,” she explained, “I had a dream. Not the one with you; a different one. A man was in it. Fair haired with red eyes. Darkness pulsed from him, deep and dark with no end.”

 

“Lucifer,” Castiel said. The name meant nothing to Zahra, but it certainly had an effect on the others.

 

“You’re sure?” Dean asked.

 

“I don’t know what his vessel looks like,” Castiel said. “But the red eyes are a certain give away.” The four men exchanged loaded looks that Zahra could not decipher. To her he said, “What did he want?”

 

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was… afraid of him,” she admitted haltingly. She dropped her gaze, ashamed of showing weakness. “I ran. He followed. He caught up to me easily and… grinned.” Until that moment she had not realized how perplexing the encounter had been. “Then I woke up.” She lifted her gaze and found the four men frowning at her.

 

“What do you think, Cas?” Dean asked at length.

 

“I don’t know,” the angel replied. “I don’t know what it could mean.”

 

“Hold on,” she said and held up her bandaged hand. “Just wait. I feel like I’m missing something here, something big. So tell me what’s going on.”

 

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

 

She shook her head at them. “There is something dark and wrong on this world. I felt it when I arrived and I saw a beacon of light shoot into the sky.” Here, Sam and Dean exchanged another glance. “Does this darkness have a name?”

 

“I told you,” Castiel said. “His name is Lucifer.”

 

“Lucifer,” she repeated. The name felt heavy on her tongue. “So the man and the darkness are one and the same. Again, not surprising. But what does he want?”

 

“Why should we trust you?” Dean asked suddenly, hostilely.

 

“Why should I trust you?” she shot back.

 

He opened his mouth to reply but could find none.

 

“I’m a stranger to your world,” she said. “I can understand your hesitance. But, if my friends and I are in danger, and, hell, it looks like we are”—this was said with a gesture to the smoldering ruins of the ship and Lowie in the tank—“then we need to know what’s out there. And what this Lucifer person could possibly want with us.”

 

“Then, why don’t you tell us how you got here,” Bobby said. “You’re clearly not from this neck of the woods.”

 

“My dear Bobby, that is an understatement,” Zahra said. She sighed and rubbed at her eyes with her un-bandaged hand. “It’s a long story,” she warned, buying time to order her convoluted thoughts.

 

Sam and Dean looked at each other, shrugged and walked over, sitting across from her on the other side of the lantern. Castiel moved forward more slowly and sat beside her. Bobby rolled himself to the group and folded his hands over his chest.

 

“We’ve got time,” Dean said, with a dashing and somehow arrogant smile.  

 

Zahra looked around at the four of them and swallowed. “Okay, then,” she said, and prepared to tell her story. And as she did she kept searching for the female demon. She would _not_ get away.  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: For the purposes of this story, the bacta tank works similarly to the regeneration tanks in Dragon Ball Z.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra tells her story; the Winchesters, Bobby and Castiel come to a surprising conclusion, and the female demon comes back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I would post another chapter so soon, but I worked hard on this today, so I hope everyone likes it. 
> 
> I don't know when I'll post again, but it probably won't be until sometime in December, unless I have a sudden urge to write the next chapter.
> 
> I edited the last chapter a little bit, so go back and read it again for the changes, but there's nothing major. I may go back and re-edit chapter 12 too, but I haven't firmly decided on this yet. I'll let you know if I do in the notes of the next chapter I post. 
> 
> (Not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.)

It seemed an age since she had slept, really slept, but Zahra did not – nor could she – allow sleep to overcome her. As she took a breath to begin her story, all the while keeping a conscience search for the female demon going through the Force, she began to wonder just what would happen next. The Winchesters had arrived. Like she knew they would, because that was what they did: they came when danger called, to save the helpless. Well, Zahra reasoned, she was hardly helpless; she was a Jedi, for Force’s sake. But, even she could admit, in the present circumstances, she was at a loss.

Demons. Real, honest to goodness demons. Not a story to be told in the late watches of the night, intending to scare some unruly child into behaving. No. They were real. And they had followed her back to the ship and subsequently destroyed it. While her heart hurt for the people they had possessed and their subsequent deaths, she could take comfort (small though it was) in the fact that the demons were dead and the humans were at peace.

Still, knowing this did not soothe or lessen the guilt that ate away at her. She could understand why Dean had wanted it to be done, but perhaps it had been a hasty judgment? Who was he to decide who lived and who died? He was just a man. An ordinary man. Then again, perhaps that in itself qualified him. As a Jedi, she was supposed to be impartial. She could have laughed at that now, for she knew, when she found that female demon she would be anything but impartial.

The sun’s fading light cast long shadows on the clearing. The sky was a riot of color, black, purple, orange and red, a bright sharp yellow indicating the sun’s position. The moon could be seen rising high in the distance, but no stars yet peeked through the deepening night. Zahra took a heavy breath and sighed. Now was the time to speak. It was not the time to worry about what had happened and what had yet to happen. She swallowed past the taste of smoke in her mouth and cleared her throat.

“As you can plainly see, I am not from your world,” she began, looking down at the small lantern in the midst of their circle. “Nor am I from your galaxy. We arrived here through what I can only describe as a wormhole, although are data on it was limited. I won’t go into specifics – I’m not very scientifically minded – and in any case it doesn’t matter. Without the ship…” she shook her head as she trailed off. Without the ship she could no longer analyze the data they had collected over the past several months.

“In my galaxy, I am a Jedi,” she continued. She reached up with her left hand and ran her fingers over her braid. “A Jedi Padawan which means, basically, I’m still an apprentice. A Jedi is a kind of elite warrior, a keeper of the peace and of justice.” She looked at them. They didn’t seem at all surprised by what she was saying, merely intrigued and interested. With a steadying breath, she went on. “My Jedi Master went missing,” she said with a shrug. “I went looking for her. Lowie came with me. The droids were already on the ship running maintenance for Captain Solo, the man that owns it. They came with us when we, er, borrowed it.” She couldn’t look any of them in the eye when she admitted that.

“Borrowed it?” Dean said with a touch of disbelief. “You mean you stole it.”

Zahra lifted her chin at the implication. “It’s a matter of perspective,” she said primly. “I had every intention of returning it until, uh, certain events took place.”

“What events?” Bobby asked. “Besides the obvious.” He waved his hand at the ship’s ruins.

“We were pulled, as I said, through a wormhole and into another galaxy. We crashed on a planet, the ship was damaged and I joined a quest when help was promised.” She wrapped an arm around Thorin the wolf, pressed to her side, as she thought of her dwarven friends, Gandalf the Gray and Bilbo Baggins. “Once the ship was fixed – well, a patch job really, as it turned out – we left.”

“What kind of quest was it?” Sam asked with no little amount of eagerness. Zahra blinked at him a smile tugging on her lips, the first after what seemed like an eternity. His eagerness reminded her of Tilda, Bard’s youngest daughter.

“A quest to reclaim a homeland and to slay a dragon,” Zahra said mysteriously. She ignored the startled expressions on their faces. Noticing Sam’s hands were still bloody, she opened the kit and handed him several wipes. “For your hands,” she said. He took them with a smile and cleaned off the appendages.

“What happened on the quest?” Sam asked.

Zahra bit her lip, reluctant to tell for some reason. She had a niggling at the back of her mind but wasn’t sure what it was about.

“Oh, come on, tell us,” Bobby urged grumpily.

She shrugged away the niggling feeling and gave them a brief rundown of the events of her quest in Middle-Earth, leaving out the more intimate parts, like her seeing Thorin Oakenshield as a surrogate father. They didn’t need to know _that_. As she spoke, she sensed surprise and then shock run through Sam, Dean and Bobby and lots of loaded looks passed between them.

“What?” she asked, when that part of her tale was concluded.

“Nothing,” Dean said quickly. “Go on. What happened next?”        

She gave them a suspicious look but let the moment pass without question. “So, we came through the wormhole again and realized we were lost. We hadn’t returned home. Instead, we were now in your galaxy and our repairs were failing. Like I said, it was a patchy job. We limped through space looking for someplace to land to fix the ship. We discovered your planet on our long-range scans and headed here.” She shrugged again. “You can guess at the rest.” She looked down at the ground, noticing an insect of some kind climbing a piece of grass. It balanced at the top, then started down the opposite side.

“And somehow you got tangled up with demons,” Bobby said.

She huffed quietly. “They were in town,” she said. “They came into the diner that Ellen, Jo and I went to.” She looked up. “Though, like I said, they might have been drawn by the Force shield Lowie and I were using.” She chewed on the inside of her lip and tugged again at her Padawan braid. She glanced past Dean’s shoulder to the bacta tank. Lowie floated unconsciously inside it.

She looked away again just as quickly. It was her fault he was in there. She knew it was pointless to take all the blame for the situation, but she could not help it. Lowie would say it was not her fault, but knowing something does not change your feelings. Zahra bit at her lip. She felt through the Force for the demon, but could not sense her. Either she too was cloaking herself or she had left.  Zahra hoped not. She had a score to settle with the bitch.

“I’ve told you my story,” she said after a long silence. “It’s your turn.”

The four men exchanged more loaded glances (she was really getting tired of that; she didn’t like feeling out of the loop) but before any of them could speak, Artoo’s whistling speech pierced the air. She lifted her head to look over Dean’s shoulder again.

“Something wrong?” she called to the droids.

“It is uncertain, Mistress Zahra,” Threepio said. “Perhaps you could come and take a look?”

Zahra climbed to her feet. “Excuse me a moment, gentlemen,” she murmured and strode across the clearing to join the droids at the bacta tank.

*

“She’s sure polite,” Bobby murmured as they watched her stop by the computer and read the screen.

“Yeah,” Dean murmured, thoughtfully, looking over his shoulder at her. He didn’t need to ask the others what they were thinking. Sam and Bobby’s thoughts were obvious. All three of the hunters were having mini freak-outs in their minds. She was real. The ship was real. _Star Wars_ was real! They could hardly believe it. Sam especially was practically bursting with excitement. This was, no doubt, better than Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.

Dean didn’t know what to think. “How is this possible?” he asked in a low whisper. He watched as Zahra stepped away from the computer, crouching beside R2-D2 – the R2-D2! – and putting a hand gently on the top of his dome as he beeped at her and she examined something the others couldn’t see.

Dean turned to Castiel. “You know, don’t you? How is any of this real?” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the ship and its inhabitants.

Castiel looked remarkably patient. He looked at the three hunters and then at Zahra, Lowbacca, the droids and the ship. After a pause that was too long for Dean’s comfort, Castiel returned his gaze to him, and it was borderline pitying. “Do you really think your galaxy is the only one God chose to populate?” he asked.

Dean felt his jaw slacken in shock. One look told him Sam and Bobby were just as nonplussed.

Castiel looked between them for a moment. “What?” he asked. “It’s only human arrogance to assume Earth is the only populated planet in the universe.”

“Makes sense,” Sam said. “But how did George Lucas come up with it? I mean, here _Star Wars_ is a fantasy. No one believes it’s real.”

“Not to mention what she was saying about that other planet,” Bobby grunted. “That quest she joined? Sound familiar?”

“What is it?” Castiel asked.

“Well, and maybe I’m just barking up the wrong tree here,” Bobby said, “but it sounded an awful lot like _The Hobbit_ to me.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second,” Dean said, holding up his hands for emphasis. He glanced over his shoulder again and saw that Zahra was preoccupied with Artoo and Threepio. Still, lowering his voice even further, he leaned forward and whispered, “So we got a girl from a make-believe world, visiting another make-believe world, and then showing up here? This doesn’t make any sense, even if God did populate other planets, or whatever. _Star Wars_ and _The Hobbit_ are just… _not real_.”

Castiel was frowning. “You have seen the evidence with your own eyes,” he pointed out. “Why do you still deny it?”

“Besides, to the rest of the world, we’re fictional too,” Sam said.

“That’s different,” Dean replied.

“How?” Sam asked, with earnest confusion.

“Because,” Dean said, floundering slightly. His argument was on thin ice and he knew it. “We lived those lives everyone thinks is fiction.”

Sam held up one hand and gestured with it to the girl. “She’s lived it too. She’s a Jedi who walked across Middle-Earth. Dean, it’s _all real_.”

“He’s right,” Bobby said. “We’ve seen it with our own eyes, heard it with our own ears. Dean, we can’t just ignore it because it goes against everything we thought we knew to be true.”

Dean turned to Castiel. “How is any of this real?” he asked. “We had Chuck to write about us. What about her? _Star Wars_ , Middle-Earth, how did Lucas and Tolkien write about them?”

“You said it yourself,” Cas replied. “You had Chuck, a prophet, writing about you and Sam.” He didn’t continue, but the implication was clear.

Dean, Sam and Bobby exchanged another look. “Are you saying George Lucas and J.R.R. Tolkien… are prophets?” Bobby said in astonishment.

Cas shrugged. “It only makes sense,” he said. “But I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask one of my contacts in Heaven to know for certain.”

“You think they’d help you?” Bobby asked.

Cas nodded. “I have a few favors to call in still,” he said.

“So, if you knew about her, and Lucifer knows about her,” Sam began slowly.

“Then Heaven knows she’s here as well,” Castiel finished. “She’s right. She and her friends are in danger. Not just from Lucifer and his demons, but from Heaven and its angels as well.”

The silence that followed this statement was heavy and laden with the knowledge of what had to come next. Somehow, they were going to have to get two Jedi, and two droids out of Colorado before something worse happened than their ship blowing up.

*

“Just keep an eye on it and let me know if there’s a significant change,” Zahra said. Artoo beeped an affirmative and she started back for the group. They were whispering amongst each other, but as she neared, Bobby looked up and shushed them.

She arched an eyebrow at the sudden silence that befell them at her approach. They were acting very strangely. She wondered what they had been discussing so quietly; from the pinched frown on Dean’s face, it couldn’t be anything good.

Three feet from them, she jolted to a stop. They watched her warily. She lifted her head, eyes scanning the forest closely. Her lips pulled back in a grimace and her eyes narrowed. Thorin and the rest of the pack were on their feet an instant later, hackles raised, snarling at the trees.

“What is it?” Dean asked, getting to his feet. Sam and Castiel followed him and Bobby wheeled his chair to face the trees.

“Come on out,” Zahra called, ignoring Dean. “Don’t be shy. We’re all very impressed with your handy work, I must say.”

She moved forward, past the men, stopping beside Thorin. The wolf’s presence at her side was almost as comforting as the dwarf’s had been.

“I said, come out,” she said. “Before I get angry.”

There was a rustling in the trees and the demon stepped into the clearing. The reaction of the hunters was instantaneous. All three had their shotguns up and aimed at the demon before Zahra could blink. Castiel stood quietly by, but his posture had taken on a sinister stance.

The demon smirked at them. She was short, blonde, and the dark side of the Force pulsed from her. “Hello, boys,” she said. “Miss me?”

“Meg,” Dean spat.

“You know her?” Zahra asked.

“Unfortunately,” Sam said. “Whose body did you take now?”

“Who, this?” the demon looked down at herself, hands running over her temporary body. “Isn’t she cute? A pretty little stay-at-home mommy of three.” She snorted. “Pathetic.”

“How is that pathetic?” Zahra asked.

“Oh, honey, if you don’t know…,” she trailed off with a smirk.

“What are you doing here, Meg?” Sam asked.

She shrugged. “Have to go where the Boss says. Although, sadly, I had to take orders from, oh, look at that. You killed them. Good for you, Sammy boy.” Her smile was beatific and suggestive.

“You blew up my ship, you bitch,” Zahra snarled. "And you nearly killed my friend!" Rage burned in Zahra's breast as she said that last.

“What makes you say that?” Meg said with false innocence.

Zahra gave her a look that said ‘I’m not stupid’ and Meg laughed.

“Yes, it was me. I gotta tell you, doing things the human way, you know, building bombs and blowing stuff up, it’s actually kind of fun,” she said, grinning still.

Zahra wanted to wipe that grin off her face. Preferably with her lightsaber.

At the thought, the weapon shot into her hand from her belt. She ignited it and the blade hummed to life, its green glow casting odd shadows around the clearing.

“You gonna use that on me? Really?” Meg asked, still with an innocent ‘woe-is-me’ expression. “What about mommy here? Huh? You gonna kill her too? She’s not like those others,” – she gestured to the bodies of the other demonic hosts – “she wants to go home to her kids.”

Zahra paused. Like before, she reached into the mind of the person before, past the darkness of Meg and found the human beneath. Sucking in a breath, she realized Meg was right. This woman didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to leave her family always wondering what happened to her. Zahra stared at the smiling demon for a long moment, then she deactivated her lightsaber and clicked it back onto her belt.

“Get out of her,” she said.

“Why should I?” Meg asked, hands on her hips.

“Because I said so,” Zahra replied. Her voice was low, menacing. Dean glanced at her, and even Meg paused a moment. “You did what you came here to do, didn’t you?” she continued. “You destroyed my ship, marooning me on this heap of rock, making me vulnerable to attack from this Lucifer that you serve. Not only that but that bastard Zachariah can find me now.”

“What?” Dean asked.

“Zachariah?” Sam asked. “You’ve seen him?”

“Only in my dreams,” she said. She didn’t have to look to know the brothers were exchanging more glances. To Meg, she added, “So get the hell out of here before I change my mind and slice you in half.”

Meg paused, then smirked. “Well, you’re right. I did do what I intended and it had the desired result. My work here is finished, for now. Sam, Dean, I’ll be seeing you boys again. Don’t miss me too much.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t miss you at all,” Dean said.

Meg smiled, then her mouth dropped open in a scream. Her head fell back and a long, black cloud of smoke shot from her open mouth and into the air. It whirled above them then disappeared over the forest. The body collapsed in a heap, unconscious.

“What was that?” Zahra asked, staring up into the sky.

“That was a demon. That’s what they really look like,” Bobby said. Sam walked over to the woman’s body and checked her. “She still alive?”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “What do we do with her?”

“Cas, take her to town,” Dean said. “We can’t run the risk of her seeing any of this. Hopefully, she’ll think everything was a really, really bad nightmare.”

“Do they usually?” Zahra asked.

Dean glanced at her. “No.”

Zahra nodded. “Didn’t think so.”

Castiel walked over to the woman, knelt and scooped her into his arms. “I will take the woman to town,” he said, “but then I have some business to take care of.” He looked meaningfully at Dean who nodded. “I’ll be back,” he said and disappeared in a sound that resembled the flapping of giant wings.

Zahra’s stomach growled loudly. The hunters looked at her. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Got any food?” Dean asked.

She sighed. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t eat it after it’s been in that fire. The fumes alone could have tainted it. Besides, I’m pretty sure the kitchen, such as it was, has been destroyed.” Then it finally hit her. “Great. No food, no water, no nothing.”

“I’ll go to town,” Dean said. “Grab us some grub and come back. “Might take a while, but it’ll be worth it.”

“I would appreciate it,” Zahra told him.

“I’ll come with you,” Sam said.

“I’ll stay here,” Bobby said. “Don’t fancy going over all those roots again in the dark.”

Sam and Dean nodded at him. As they started off, Zahra called after them, “By the way, Dean.” He paused and looked back at her. “I’m sorry I was so, uh, you know, earlier.”

“A bitch?” he asked.

She smiled slightly. “Yeah. Sorry I was such a bitch earlier.”

He gave her a small smile in return. “Don’t worry about it, kid.” With that, he and Sam left and Zahra was alone with Bobby, the droids and Lowie floating gently in the bacta tank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may be messing with the show cannon a little bit here, but I wanted to introduce Meg to Zahra now, instead of doing it later. Gives them a little more history, and makes Zahra's dislike of her about something other than her just being a demon and filled with darkness.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, December 1st and a new chapter for your perusal. Enjoy! Leave a comment/review, if you feel so inclined. 
> 
> (This chapter is long, I'm sorry. There's a LOT of dialogue. Again, I'm sorry!)

Dean and Sam made it to the Impala after more than an hour’s trek through the darkened forest. They did not speak and when they seated themselves in the car, they turned on the radio. After ten minutes of driving listening to Zeppelin, Sam punched off the radio.

 

“What now, Dean?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know, Sammy,” his brother replied.

 

Sam looked over at him, the sight of Dean at the wheel of the Impala a familiar sight. It should have been comforting, but the tension in the air belied that. It wasn’t just because Sam was sure Dean hadn’t really forgiven him for Sam’s role in freeing Lucifer; it was also because of what had happened that day: killing the demons, meeting Zahra, watching the Millennium Falcon blow up and Zahra’s story afterwards.

 

And then Meg showing up in a random body and taunting them.

 

“Zahra’s in danger,” Sam said.

 

“I know,” Dean said.

 

“Both Lucifer and Zachariah are after her,” Sam continued.

 

“I know, Sam,” Dean said again.

 

“We can’t leave them behind,” Sam went on.

 

“I know, Sam!” Dean yelled. “You think I don’t? I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that all of this is real.”

 

“Dean, calm down,” Sam said, placating. “I’m just saying we need to come up with a plan on how we’ll keep them safe.”

 

“Dammit, Sam, I know!” Dean yelled. He paused, took a deep breath and let it out. In a more controlled tone, though no less angry, he said, “First things first, we get some food, we get some camping gear and we take it back. We feed her and make her get some sleep. Hell, we all need a good night’s sleep after this shit-hole of a day. Then in the morning, we figure the rest out. You know she won’t leave her friend while he’s in that tank, so we wait until he’s out. I don’t care if we have to watch her 24/7! Once he’s out, we’ll – hell, I don’t know. We’ll knock ‘em out and drag them back to Bobby’s if we have to.”

 

“What about the ship?” Sam asked. He didn’t necessarily agree with knocking the two Jedi out plan, but Dean was in too much of a mood to discuss it rationally.

 

Dean shrugged. “How should I know, Sam? We can’t just tow it along behind the Impala! It stays!”

 

Sam sat back in his seat, staring out the windshield. “I still can’t believe this is real,” he murmured. “All those times we watched _Star Wars_ growing up, and it was all real!” He turned back to Dean. “You think Cas is right? That George Lucas is some kind of… prophet?”

 

“Man, I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Dean said, shaking his head. “First angels and God, now this. The universe is one crazy place.”

 

Sam could not help but agree.

 

*

 

Zahra sat in front of the bacta tank, looking up at Lowie’s suspended form. The bacta was no longer pink as the filtration system had sucked out all the blood. She could just make out Lowie’s wound through his long hair floating around him and was happy to see that it looked much better than it had earlier. The bacta was doing its job well. She glanced over at the empty canisters and grimaced. It had taken fifteen to fill the tank, leaving only five. She hoped neither of them had a serious injury again, because the tank would soon be useless.

 

A ringing sound caught her attention and she turned to see Bobby pull a silver object out of his shirt pocket. He flipped it open, pressed a button and said, “Hello?”

 

_Must be his comlink_ , Zahra thought, remembering Ellen using something similar. She turned back to Lowie, but listened to Bobby’s end of the conversation.

 

“Uh-huh,” he was saying. “Yeah. Sounds good. You know it’ll be cold by the time you get back. No, I’m not complaining, you idjit. Look, just hurry up. What? Sleeping bags? That sounds fine, but I don’t know how it’ll feel on my back. Get what you think is best. Yeah. Uh-huh. Bye, Sam.”

 

Zahra looked around again and saw him shut the device and put it away again. “What was that?” she asked him.

 

“Hmm? Oh, my cell phone. It allows people to communicate over long distances,” he explained.

 

“Like a comlink,” she said. She pulled hers out of her belt and showed him.

 

“Yeah, I guess it would be similar,” he said nodding. He wheeled himself closer until he was at her side. “That was Sam calling, anyhow. They’re getting us some takeout and some camping gear. The food’ll be cold by the time they get here though. Will that be fine with you?”

 

She shrugged. “Food is food, no matter the temperature.” She tucked her comlink back into her belt.

 

His smile was crooked and Zahra decided she liked it and him. That sat together in companionable silence until Thorin sauntered over and leaned against her, followed by the pups. Bilbo jumped at her knees trying to wriggle into her lap. She crossed her legs; Bilbo climbed up and curled against her thigh. He was soon asleep.

 

“Where’d these wolves come from?”Bobby asked after a beat. “I’ve never seen wild wolves so… tame, before.”

 

Zahra told him how they’d tried to eat her and she’d calmed them with the Force. “And I’ve named them all now. This is Bilbo,” she said, stroking the sleeping pups curved back. “And Thorin,” she said sliding her hand over the Alpha’s head. He blinked at her with his pale blue eyes and she smiled at him. She pointed out the rest of the wolves, naming them as she went. When she was finished, she looked up at Bobby. He was giving her a peculiar look. “What?” she asked him.

 

“Hmm? Oh, nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “Just peculiar names is all.”

 

“Well, I named them after some friends I made on the last world we were on,” she said. She looked down at the puppy in her lap. Her chest tightened and she swallowed past the lump in her throat.

 

“Must’ve been good friends,” Bobby said quietly as if he could sense her sadness.

 

“They were,” she whispered. She lets her words hang in the air between them for several moments then she looks up. She can tell he has something on his mind, something he wants to tell her on the tip of his tongue. She blinks at him, waiting. He glances at her from the corner of his eyes, again and again, but never says anything.

 

She turns her gaze to the bacta tank, lightly stroking Bilbo’s soft fur, her thoughts moving to the Hobbit himself and wondering if he made it back home again. _One of us should_ , she thought.

 

She glances at Bobby again, aware of his eyes lingering on her head for brief seconds, hoping, no doubt, that she wouldn’t notice. Whatever he’s thinking about was a mystery to her, but she found, for the first time, that silence was too much. She needed to speak, if only to fill the quiet.

 

She turned to him and speaks the first thing that comes to mind. “May I ask a question? You don’t have to answer,” she added quickly.

 

He eyed her with trepidation but nodded. “Ask away,” he said.

 

Taking a deep breath, she asked, “How did you get into a wheelchair?” The question was invasive and not at all polite, but Zahra cannot help but to ask. She sees tension rise in his shoulders and a sliver of contrition flows through her.

 

“You don’t have to answer,” she repeated, looking away again. She thinks back to her dream and to Galadriel’s mirror. She had seen what had happened, but she had not understood it. She didn’t expect Bobby to answer, so when he did, she snapped her attention to him at once.

 

“I stabbed myself,” he said. He did not look at her. His brow furrowed as his memories came to the surface and he practically glared at the bacta tank. “I was possessed by a demon. Meg, the demon who blew up your ship, wanted it to kill Dean. Dean spoke to me, telling me that I was stronger than the SOB inside of me and, well, I gained control enough to stab myself with a demon-killing knife. Dean’s knife. It killed the demon, but left me paralyzed.”

 

Zahra didn’t know what to say except, “I’m sorry.”

 

He shrugs. “Not your fault. Shit happens, that’s part of the job.” But Zahra can tell by his tone that he’d lost more than just the use of his legs; he’d lost a bit of his pride as well. And for anyone, hunter or Jedi, that was a harsh blow.

 

Zahra reached up and placed her hand on his. He started, brows shooting up in surprise, but did not shake her off. He flips his hand over and holds hers tightly, just as she had held his when she’d gazed upon the conflagration of the Falcon, offering just a tiny bit of comfort in an otherwise comfortless situation.

 

The night folded around them, the only light coming from the tank, the small lantern and the moon and stars far above.

 

*

 

Dean and Sam trekked through the forest, flashlights gripped in their teeth to light their path because their hands were too full to carry them. Dean gripped the bags of fast food take-out and a plastic bag of water bottles. Sam carried the sleeping bags and a camp bed for Bobby, because neither brother wanted to subject the older hunter to the hard ground.

 

Dean spotted a light ahead and some of the tension in his shoulders eased. _Some_.

 

As they stepped through the trees into the small clearing, he caught sight of Zahra and Bobby and several wolves huddled around the huge tank. They were holding hands, something that had Dean raising an eyebrow at. The girl twisted around and Dean felt her gaze settle on him. He blinked back at her as Bobby dropped her hand and swiveled his chair around.

 

“’Bout time you boys got back!” he said in his irascible tone. “We’re about to starve to death over here!”

 

Dean set the bag of water bottles down and took the flashlight from his mouth. “Yeah, well, it’s a long walk from the road, you know,” he said. “And it’s dark. What, you want us to run and trip over a root and break our necks?”

 

“Might be an improvement,” Bobby grumped.

 

“You in a bad mood?” Dean asked.

 

“I’m hungry. What do you think?” Bobby shot back.

 

Instead of replying, Dean rolled his eyes.  He sat down on the ground, wishing there were chairs, and unrolled the top of the paper food bag. “It’s not hot anymore,” he warned as he handed out wrapped hamburgers to the girl and older man. When Sam joined them, he gave his brother a burger too. Then he pulled out one for himself and began to unwrap it.

 

He’d barely swallowed his first bite when he looked up and saw that Zahra had already finished hers. He raised an eyebrow at her. He could have made a comment about her wolfing down her food, but he declined. She was starving.

 

“Want another?” he asked her.

 

“Please,” she said. She was eyeing Sam’s burger hungrily. Dean gave her another. She unwrapped the paper and took a bite.

 

“Go slowly,” Bobby told her. “You’ll get stomach cramps if you eat too fast.”

 

She nodded, swallowed and said, “Yes, sir.”

 

“Dean, give her some water,” Sam said.

 

Dean pulled out a bottle, unscrewed the top and handed it to her. “Drink it slow,” he cautioned.

 

She huffed quietly at him making him smirk, but she drank the water in small sips. When she had her fill of it, she set it on the ground in front of her. Dean finally noticed the small brown lump in her lap. A closer look told him it was one of the wolf pups.

 

“I’m not a kid, you know,” she mumbled to them half-heartedly before taking another bite.

 

“Your seventeen, right?” Sam said politely.

 

“How’d you know? Oh, Ellen?” she asked. 

 

Sam and Dean and Bobby shared a glance.

 

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m young. So what? Why does everyone always question my abilities because of my age?”

 

“We weren’t questioning your abilities,” Sam lied. Dean snorted. They _were_ questioning her abilities.

 

“You know,” she said taking another drink of water, “I’ve been in fights. I’ve been in battles, big ones, where I killed lots of orcs and almost died myself. I’ve seen and done things that none of you have. I may not understand the fundamentals of angels and demons or the Apocalypse, but I’m not completely clueless either.”

 

“We didn’t say you were,” Bobby replied mildly.

 

“No? Well, you were thinking it.” She finished her second burger and held out her hand for a third. Dean gave it to her without comment.

 

They ate in silence for several minutes then Zahra, finishing her fourth hamburger and her bottle of water, sighed. “That was good. Thank you for going to get it,” she said, inclining her head.

 

“You’re welcome,” Sam said.

 

“Not a problem,” Dean said.

 

Zahra leaned back on her hands and stared at the sky overhead. The stars were twinkling above and the moon was a rugged white disc. “There’s something else I have to tell you,” she said after a moment. The shift in her tone caught Dean’s attention and he watched her closely. He could see her face even tilted back as it was and she looked… sad. He’d noticed it before, that sadness. She hid it well most of the time, but sometimes it slipped through, like now.

 

When she didn’t continue, he prodded her. “Tell us what?”

 

She looked at him, and he could see that sadness simmering deep inside her, before she quickly swallowed it up. For some inexplicable reason she reminded him of Sam.

 

“About some things that happened,” she said, paused, licked her lips, and sucked in a breath through her nose.

 

“What things?” he asked. His voice was gruff, but his tone was gentle. She looked skittish, her eyes darting from him, to Sam, to Bobby, and back again. “Zahra,” he all but whispered her name and her gaze landed on his and did not stray.

 

“Zachariah,” she said, and Dean felt his hands clench at the name. He saw her glance down then up again. He nodded at her to speak and she pushed off her arms and settled her hands on the puppy asleep in her lap, stroking his soft brown fur as if he was the only thing holding her down.

 

“He came to me in a dream,” she started. “The same one that Castiel was in. He told me not to get involved and then I woke up. I didn’t know what to make of him, but his words had… an unsettling affect on me. I told myself I had no intention of getting involved in your world; I just wanted to fix my ship. But then Ellen got that call from Rufus. And I knew I had to go with her and Jo. So I did. I was separated from them, as you know, and I searched for the source of the darkness in River Pass on my own.” Here she paused, closed her eyes and when she opened them again she was looking at Sam with barely disguised anguish. “I was in the Quick-Mart when you came in. I hid myself with the Force and you never knew I was there. I knew there were no demons in the town. When those boys came in and attacked you, I knew that they weren’t possessed.” Sam was staring at her, lips parted as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know what. Zahra hurried on. “I interfered, knocking the second man down. I didn’t want you to die; you’re Ellen’s friend. But I didn’t stop you from killing them.”

 

“You were thinking about what Zachariah said,” Dean guessed. “About not getting involved, am I right?”

 

“You’re right,” she said. Now she couldn’t seem to look at any of them. She stared hard at the ground and worked her jaw. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Kid, it ain’t your fault,” Dean said, shaking his head slightly. Geez, she was just like Sam.

 

“No, it’s not,” Sam agreed. “What happened… just happened. We didn’t know there weren’t any demons, so those deaths are on us, not you.”

 

“You can’t blame yourself,” Bobby said. “If you had stepped in, either Sam or one of those boys could have killed you.”

 

“Bobby’s right,” Dean said. “It’s good you didn’t step in. It saved your life.”

 

“At what cost?” she asked with sudden fire, looking up at Dean. “I knew they were human. You may not have, you or Sam, but I did!”

 

“Let me ask you this,” Dean said. “What were you thinking when you didn’t stop Sam? What went through your mind?”

 

“Zachariah’s words. I was afraid of what he would do… to Lowie, the droids, the ship. Me,” she finished in a mumble.

 

“So you were thinking about your friends, about your ship and yourself,” Dean said. “Kid, there ain’t a damn thing wrong with that.”

 

“You don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head.

 

“I think I understand more than you think. If it comes down to it, I’d have chosen my brother over those guys any day of the week. If it was them or Sam, I’d choose Sammy every time,” Dean said. “Like today.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the dead bodies. “It was them, or us. I don’t owe those poor suckers a damn thing. Yes, I hate that they were possessed and that that led to their deaths, but I can’t spend every waking moment of my life regretting the lives I couldn’t save, and not thanking God, or whoever, for the lives I could save. Life is too damn short for that. So stop beating yourself up about what could have been, because hell we’ll never know. Focus on what you can do, what you have done and move on from there. It’s what every hunter does.”

 

Zahra blinked at Dean as his impassioned speech concluded. Hell, even Sam and Bobby were staring at him in astonishment. Dean rarely went off like this, but when he did, well, let’s just say he got his point across.

 

He looked back at Zahra waiting for her reply. When a small smile touched her lips, he was astonished. “That’s more or less what Lowie said, though a bit less eloquent,” she said.

 

He nodded. “Thought he seemed like a smart guy,” Dean said. Her smile grew and Dean felt some of the heaviness on his own heart lift a bit.

 

Then it faded. “There’s something else,” she said.

 

“Zachariah again?” Dean asked. She nodded. “Well, what was it he said this time?”

 

“It was after I’d gotten back to the ship,” she said. “He came to me in another dream and said. Well, he said a lot. He pushed my buttons and made me angry and…. Well, what it boils down to is this.” She looked up at Dean. “He offered me a deal.”

 

“What kind of deal?” Dean said quietly. He had a bad feeling that he couldn’t quite shake.

 

“He told me that you two,” she gestured between him and Sam, “would come find me once you, as he put it, ‘got your heads out of your asses’.” Sam and Dean shared a long suffering look and waited for her to continue. “He said that once you did, when the time came, I would get you, Dean, to say ‘yes’.”

 

A chill ran down Dean’s spine and he felt his eyes widen to the size of saucers. He felt Sam and Bobby look at him in alarm and tried to play it cool.

 

“Did he tell you what I had to say yes to?” he asked calmly.

 

She shook her head. “I asked, but he said I didn’t need to know.”

 

“And what did you say?”

 

“I told him I’d think about it,” she said, then added hastily, “But don’t worry! I have no intention of doing his dirty work. The fact that he wouldn’t tell me what it was you had to say ‘yes’ to, led me to believe it couldn’t be anything good.”

 

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Dean mumbled, running his hands over his face as they grew silent again.

 

“You said he made you a deal,” Bobby said, into the quiet. “What was he offering you in exchange?”

 

Zahra looked pained. “He told me he’d fix my ship and send me home.”

 

Her words left a sour taste in Dean’s mouth and from a glance at his brother and Bobby he could tell they felt the same. _Damn that bastard Zachariah!_ Dean thought. He was using this kid for his own dirty ends. At least she was smart and knew it.

 

“You going to tell me, now?” she asked them. “What exactly is going on on this world? What is the Apocalypse? Who is Lucifer? And what does Zachariah want you to say ‘yes’ to?”

 

“Kid, you ask a lot of questions,” Dean said tiredly.

 

“My name is Zahra, not kid,” she said. “And you told me you’d tell me everything if I told you my story. So, ante-up, Dean Winchester. Tell me everything.”

 

Dean looked at her, surprised, and then he laughed, a small quiet laugh and nodded. “Okay,” he said. And he told her everything.

 

*****

 

“So, basically, the greatest evil in your world, Lucifer, has been set free. And it’s your fault,” Zahra summarized. Dean and Sam shifted uncomfortably while Bobby shot them a look before sighing. “And now, you’re doing all you can to ensure that he doesn’t bring about the Apocalypse, which is, basically, the end of the world as you know it. And Sam is the vessel for Lucifer, a.k.a. the devil, a.k.a. Satan, and Dean is the vessel for Michael, who is Lucifer’s brother, and an archangel, who serves God, and Zachariah needs you to say ‘yes’ to Michael. And your friend Castiel is an angel of the Lord, a.k.a. God, and he helps you out when you need him. Did I miss anything?”

 

“Nope, you pretty much covered it,” Sam said, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

She nodded, lips pursed, looking between the three of them. “Well, your lives suck,” she remarked.

 

“Don’t we know it,” Dean laughed without mirth.

 

“No, really, they do,” Zahra said. “And I thought I had it bad being lost so far from home.” Her tone turned melancholic again and she looked up at sky. Such foreign stars, but they were better than none at all. For a long moment she was quiet and then she said, “I don’t know what to do.” Her voice was less than a murmur, barely a whisper, but they still heard it. She sighed, rubbed her hands over her face in parody of Dean and cleared her throat. “I can’t make a decision without consulting Lowbacca,” she said.

 

“Decision about what?” Bobby asked.

 

“Whether I will help you or not,” she said.

 

“We’re not asking for help,” Dean objected.

 

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if you are or not,” she replied. “Or whether I want to or not. The Force guides me and if it tells me to help you, then I will, to the very best of my ability.”

 

“We don’t have to decide anything now,” Sam said. “It’s late. We should get some sleep.”

 

Zahra looked at him then down. She nodded. “Yes, you are right, Sam,” she said. “You should all get some sleep.”

 

Sam stood and started to set up Bobby’s camp bed. He rolled a sleeping bag over it and unzipped it. “Sorry, Bobby, but this is the best we could find.”

 

Bobby grunted. “It’ll do,” he said. Sam helped him onto the camp bed and Bobby laid back. While they were busy, Dean began to unroll his own sleeping bag and pushed one towards Zahra.

 

“What’s this for?” she asked.

 

“For sleeping,” Dean retorted.

 

She pushed it back towards him with a roll of her eyes. “I can’t sleep,” she said, like it was obvious.

 

“How do you know, have you tried?” Dean joked, settling on his ankles to watch her.

 

“I mean, I can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

 

“What are you talking about?” he asked, incredulous.

 

She sighed. “One, I have to be ready in case Lowie needs help. Two, if I sleep, there’s a good chance Zachariah will come for a visit, or worse, Lucifer. And I’d rather not deal with either of them, not if I can avoid it.”

 

“You can’t _not_ sleep,” Sam said, coming over. Bobby was settled on his back, zipped up in his sleeping bag, his wheelchair near his head.

 

She smiled at him. “I’ll be fine. Meditation will help me to recover my strength, but sleep is out of the question. Besides, someone must keep watch and that’ll be me.”

 

Dean opened his mouth to object but Zahra held up a hand. “My decision is final. Sleep.”

 

Dean and Sam exchanged a look.

 

“Sleep, you idjits!” Bobby called to them.

 

Dean rolled his eyes and slipped into his sleeping bag, not bothering to take his shoes or jacket off. He did take his gun out and place it near his head before tucking his arm under his head for a pillow. Sam settled down as well and the three hunters eventually drifted into restless sleep.

 

*

 

Dean woke several times during the night. The first time was to the sound of muffled sobs. He blinked blearily until he spotted Zahra, silhouetted by the bacta tank, with her head bowed and her hands over her mouth, sobbing into them. He watched her for a moment until sleep overcame him again.

 

The second time, he woke to find himself shivering. When had it gotten so cold? A cool hand pressed to his forehead. His eyes opened and he saw two dark eyes and red-gold hair above him.

 

“Shhh,” Zahra murmured, stroking his forehead. “I’ll keep you warm.”

 

Before he could ask what she meant, he faded back into sleep.

 

The third time, he was warm. Someone had built a fire in the center of the triangle he, Sam and Bobby created. It was big and heat radiated from it nicely. He rolled over so his back was to it and once again saw Zahra beside the tank. This time she was silent, simply staring up at the stars. Before he fell asleep again, Dean knew he was not mistaking the look of abject longing on her face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to add a disclaimer right here for those of you who are Supernatural fans, such as I am: I'm trying to keep Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel as close to their TV selves as I can, but there will inevitably be some creative license taken since I don't know these characters as well as the TV writers and actors do. I've been rewatching seasons 1-3 and will probably rewatch season 4 as well, to better get an idea of who these characters were before season 5. It's been fun, and I'm enjoying rewatching these seasons since I've only watched them once each several years ago. So if you think the characters do/say something out of character, don't be alarmed. That is simply my own imagination thrown into the mix. There will be changes, there has to be to make my story unique. I hope you all enjoy reading what is to come as I do in writing it.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things slowly (sloooooowwwwllllyyy) move forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hit 50k last night when writing this chapter but I just kept going. It's long. I'm sorry. But I hope you all enjoy it. Leave a comment/review if you feel like it. And thanks for all the kudos and bookmarks!
> 
> (Not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.)

Despite her word to Sam, Zahra did not meditate that night. Her mind was too full of all she had learned to settle into some semblance of tranquility. She did allow her fear and despair to overcome her at one point, and she wept bitterly into her hands. Later, when she noticed the hunters shivering as the night had cooled, she built a fire that was good and hot so that even from her vigil beside the bacta tank, she could feel its warmth. Afterwards, when she gave up all hope of meditation, she merely gazed at the stars, hoping against hope that she would see one that would point the way home. It was a vain hope.

 

In the early watches of the morning, Zahra took a deep breath of the cool mountain air and got to her feet. Artoo’s domed top swiveled and he let out a soft inquiring whistle. She shook her head at him and motioned for him to stay put. “I need to take a look at the ship,” she murmured.

 

He did not reply, only swiveling back around to watch Lowbacca’s floating shape.

 

Picking up the small lantern, Zahra turned to face the Millennium Falcon. The dawn light was just barely cresting over the horizon, hidden by the trees, but Zahra could sense it. The clearing, therefore, was still shadowed, and the ship was a dark, fractured outline in its midst.

 

“Let’s get this over with,” Zahra murmured to herself.

 

With sure, determined steps, she made her way forward, picking her way carefully up the twisted, broken ramp and into the depths of the ship. The previous day had been too chaotic for her to pay attention to what was whole and what wasn’t. Her only thoughts then had been to save Lowbacca’s life. Now, though, her heart was in her throat as she stepped slowly through the ship. She looked around her, swinging the lantern to cast light upon each and every surface. Things were blackened, burned, or completely melted away. Lumps of metal that had once belonged to the walls or consuls had cooled and hardened mid-drip, forming strange looking stalactites and stalagmites. But the worse was the cockpit. It had looked bad from the outside but inside was worse. The view-shield was obliterated. The seats were warped and one was hanging at an angle where the base was melted in half.

 

Zahra bit her lip, holding back the sobs that wanted to burst forth; they wouldn’t change anything. So instead, she turned and went to look at more of the ship.

 

The kitchen was gone. So was one of the bathrooms. The lounge was half-scorched, and one of the couches was burned to ash, but for the most part it was intact. The dejarik table, home to so many happy memories, was half-melted. Zahra hurried on. Her room, surprisingly (and thankfully) was barely touched. The smell of smoke and fumes, which had hung heavy in the worse parts of the ship, was fainter here. Only the outside wall showed any signs of the fire.

 

Zahra dropped to her knees and dug under her cot for her bag. She pulled it out, grateful to see it unmarked, only smelling faintly of smoke and rifled through it for a spare change of clothes. She pulled out one of the sets of Elven clothes given to her by the Elves of Rivendell and set them on her bed.

 

“I really should bathe first,” she murmured and took herself to the second bathroom one door down from her room and stepped inside. Setting the lantern on the counter, she reached into the shower stall and turned the water knob. There was a groaning sound and then cool water shot from the showerhead. She waited for it to warm, before stripping down and stepping in. The water felt nice on her skin, sluicing away the dirt, sweat and grime of the previous day, even if it couldn’t wash the stains from within. She opened her mouth to let some water run in, swished it around, and then spit. She’d had a foul taste in her mouth since stepping foot onto the ship and wanted to get rid of it.

 

She didn’t waste too much time, although she did enjoy the feel of the water on her aching muscles for a few spare moments. She washed her hair and body with plain soap and rinsed off. All together, she was finished in twenty minutes, longer than she had intended, but it was time well spent, in her opinion. Turning off the water, she stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. Lantern in hand, she returned to her room, dried off and dressed. The Elven-made clothes felt wonderful on her skin, better than the water had. She sighed as she slipped the tunic over her head.

 

She combed out her hair and let it hang limp down her back. Pulling on silky Elven stockings, she shoved her feet back into her knee-high brown boots. Standing, she pushed her hair behind her ears, grabbed her pack, and headed out of the ship.

 

*

 

Dean groaned as he rolled over onto his back. He stared up at the sky, gray in the pale light of dawn and tried to remember where he was. When he did remember, he sat bolt upright. He looked around. Sam and Bobby were already up, sitting by the remnants of the fire. With a groan, Dean stood, picking up his gun and tucking it back into his holster and hobbling over to his brother and Bobby, groaning and rubbing his back.

 

“Man, I’m stiff!” he called out. “And not in a good way.”

 

Sam made a face at him. “Dean, come on,” he said and shook his head.

 

Dean smirked at him and crouched beside the fire. He watched as Sam built it up some more, until a small blaze was going. “We should have gotten something for breakfast,” he said.

 

“I think I have some power bars in my bag in the car,” Sam offered. Dean made a face at him. “Well, it’s better than nothing, Dean!”

 

Dean sighed, knowing he was right. He looked around. “Where’s the kid?” he asked.

 

“I think she’s on the ship,” Bobby said. He was rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“Something wrong?” Dean asked him.

 

“Oh, I got a crick in my neck,” Bobby replied. “That camper bed isn’t the most comfortable, you know. I can’t wait to get back home.”

 

“Whenever Castiel gets back he can take you to your house if you want, Bobby,” Sam said. “You shouldn’t have to stay out here any longer than you have to.”

 

“Where is Cas, anyway?” Dean asked. “Shouldn’t he be back by now?”

 

“I guess he’s still trying to gather information,” Sam said with a shrug.

 

“Well, I might just ask him to,” Bobby said with a heavy sigh. “I may have been jumping the gun a little by coming out here with you boys. Although I’ve got to say, this sure is a sight.” Dean and Sam followed his gaze to look at the Millennium Falcon, a product of fantasy made real. It looked worse in the growing daylight than it had last night.

 

As they looked at the ship, Zahra appeared, slowly making her way down the ramp. She had changed, and her hair was wet and loose around her. Dean hadn’t noticed before how long it was, down to her waist. She carried a backpack in one hand, the small lantern in the other. She looked up, saw them and headed over. She had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, but other than that she looked remarkably refreshed.

 

“Good morning, gentlemen,” she greeted them.

 

They said good morning.

 

“Why’s your hair wet?” Dean asked.

 

“I took a shower,” she replied. “The pipes are working at least and the water heater, thank the Force. I feel much better now.”

 

“How is it?” Bobby asked. He lifted one hand and gestured. “Inside, I mean.”

 

Zahra’s expression grew serious. “Worse than I had feared,” she said, and left it at that.

 

They grew silent again.

 

“What’s in the bag?” Dean asked when he grew uncomfortable in the quiet. Zahra’s drawn and weary face was making him even more uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure why.

 

Zahra looked at her bag then up at him, arching one fine red-gold eyebrow. “Nosy, aren’t you?” she asked. He could hear a hint of amusement in her voice; still, he pretended to take offense.

 

“Well, if you don’t want to tell us, don’t,” he said

 

Her lips curled into a small smile. She settled herself on the ground and pulled the bag close. With a shrug, she said, “It’s mostly clothes. Clean ones. A few other things and a couple of keepsakes… from Middle-Earth.”

 

Dean started in shock. From the corner of his eye, he saw a similar reaction shake Sam and Bobby. Zahra’s gaze was sharp, flying between the three men with no little amount of speculation. But she didn’t say anything. Dean could not help but wonder why.

 

Her gaze settled on Bobby, looking up at him, a smile on her face. “Want to see them?” she asked.

 

Bobby, to his credit, played it cool. He shrugged. “If you want to show us,” he said.

 

Now she was grinning as she pulled open her bag and rifled inside. The first thing she pulled out was… a rock?

 

“A rock? Seriously? That’s a keepsake?” Dean asked. “Who are you, Charlie Brown?”

 

She blinked at him, confused. “Who’s Charlie Brown?”

 

Now Dean was dumbfounded, until he realized of course she wouldn’t know who that was. “Never mind,” he said.

 

“What’s special about it?” Sam asked. He shot Dean a withering look, causing the other hunter to shrug.

 

“Gandalf gave it to me,” she said. The three hunters looked at her. “He inscribed his sigil onto it, look.” And she tilted the rock just so and the sigil shone blue. Dean felt his mouth drop open in shock. “It helped me out a few times,” she continued.

 

“May I?” Sam asked, holding out a hand. She handed it to him. Sam stared at the faintly glowing mark on the rock with barely suppressed wonder.

 

“What was the other thing?” Bobby asked.

 

Dean watched as Zahra reached into her bag again and pulled out something on a chain. The object was clutched tightly in her hand and when she peeled back her fingers, the growing daylight glinted off a bright green jewel.

 

“Is that… an emerald?” Bobby asked in disbelief.

 

Zahra nodded. She held it up in one hand, the jewel dangling from the chain. “This was a gift from Thorin Oakenshield,” she said. “He gave it to me shortly before I left… to remember them by.” There was a slight catch to her voice that caught Dean’s ear. He looked at her, watching carefully and there it was again: the sadness that clung so closely to her, simmering in her eyes. He looked away. How hard must it be for this kid, to be so far from home, to be stuck on planet after planet with her hopes of returning dwindling with each passing day? He couldn’t even imagine. He and Sam had never really had a home. Well, the Impala _was_ their home, a home on four wheels that had crossed the country dozens of times over. Bobby’s house was as much a real home to them as they had ever really had, and they only stayed there for brief stints. They had never been like Zahra, lost so far from home.

 

“It’s pretty,” Dean said, in reference to the jewel.

 

She looked at him and smiled, some of that sadness lifting away, but not all of it. He wondered if it would ever completely vanish.

 

“Thanks,” she said. “It is pretty, isn’t it?” She admired the jewel with a wistfulness that choked at Dean again, until he had to look away.

 

Sam passed the rock to Bobby who held it as if it were made of gold, too precious for words, and examined it. When he was done, he passed it to Dean.

 

Dean studied the rock, the sigil it bore and the faint glow emanating from it. If Zahra had been anyone or anything else, he thought, he and Sam and Bobby would have probably killed her. He couldn’t sense the magic in the rock, but he knew it was there. Why else would it be glowing? It was the complete antithesis to everything normal, everything _human_. But at the same time… at the same time, it was incredible. He was holding something that Gandalf the Gray had held. Gandalf, the wizard from the novels, created by Tolkien to guide little hobbits on great and dangerous journeys, whom Ian McKellen had played in movies. And Zahra had met him.

 

Dean had never really been one for books, but he did read _The Hobbit_ to Sammy as kids and he did watch the _Lord of the Rings_ movies. He was beginning to have another inner freak-out. Hastily, he pushed the rock back into Zahra’s hands. She gave him a funny look and he realized his hands were shaking. He slid them up and down his thighs in nervous agitation, hoping she wouldn’t ask him what was wrong.

 

To his relief she didn’t. She put the rock back in her bag and held the jewel out to Sam, who took it to examine. It, too, was passed between the three hunters and, once it was back in Zahra’s possession, was put into the bag.

 

The silence that followed was awkward… at least to Dean. Sam was making faces at him, nodding his head, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. Dean gave him a ‘What?’ look. Sam rolled his eyes. Bobby was looking between the two of them with a droll expression. Zahra stood and walked over to the bacta tank, leaving the men alone.

 

Dean glanced over his shoulder at her, making sure she was far enough away so that she couldn’t hear, and leaned forward slightly, careful of the fire. “What, Sam? What’s all the eyebrow waggling and nodding for?” he hissed irritably.

 

“Dean, don’t you think we should tell her?” Sam asked.

 

“Tell her, what?” Dean asked.

 

“You know what! About everything!” Sam whispered.

 

“No, I don’t,” Dean said, vehemently. “You are not to tell her a damn thing. We don’t want her freaking out.”

 

Sam opened his mouth to object, but Bobby cut him off. “Leave it, Sam. We’ve got other fish to fry without the girl learning that we know more about where she’s from than she thinks.”

 

Sam shut his mouth with a snap and glared between the two of them. His expression was clearly mutinous.

 

Dean held up one finger and pointed it at his younger brother. “I mean it, Sam,” he said. “Not a damn word.”

 

“About what?” came Zahra’s voice from next to him.

 

Dean jumped so high, he lost his balance and would have tumbled head first into the fire if Zahra hadn’t caught his shoulder and stopped him. His face hovered inches from the flickering flames for a long, long moment. He licked suddenly dry lips and swallowed.

 

“Whoa, easy there, tiger,” she said, amused. “Wouldn’t want you to singe that pretty face of yours, would we?” She tugged on his jacket and he landed safely on his rear, nothing singed save his pride.

 

The adrenaline began to die out, and Dean, trying to cover up his fright, looked up at Zahra. She moved so silently he hadn’t heard her come back to join them. And it wasn’t lost on him that she had overheard his last order to Sam. So he fell back on the old tried and true: humor.

 

“You think I’m pretty?” he asked, looking up at her and rubbing his chin, wiggling his own eyebrows at her. He was glad to see the lingering sadness in her expression melt into a smile, amusement and mischief dancing in her eyes.

 

“Who would look at you and think anything different?” she asked. She reached up and rubbed his cheek slowly, suggestively.

 

Dean was so startled by the gesture his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in surprise. For once, he was at a loss for words. And she knew it.

 

Zahra dropped her hand and laughed at him. She re-seated herself in her spot across form Bobby.

 

Dean stared at her. He looked at Sam and Bobby and felt heat rise in his face when he saw them looking between him and Zahra with blatant astonishment, their jaws hanging open like doors with one hinge.

 

“You know, you’ll catch flies like that,” Zahra said, laughing still.

 

Dean snapped his mouth shut at once and continued to watch her with a strange nervous energy. Obviously, she had been teasing him, but it had left him unbalanced. He did not know what to make of this girl. And that made him even more nervous than he would have been otherwise.

 

He wished, fervently, that Castiel would get the hell back, or that Lowbacca would be healed so things could finally start moving forward. He wanted to get Zahra and her friends to safety so he and Sam could start looking for the Colt again or at least find a case. He had a feeling that the less time he spent with Zahra the better. If this one teasing moment was anything to go by, Dean Winchester guessed there was trouble on the way.

 

*

 

From the way Dean was continuing to stare at her in mingled astonishment and fear, Zahra supposed she may have gone too far with her teasing. Sam and Bobby’s initial shock had morphed, thankfully, into muffled snorts of amusement. Which was what she had been angling for with Dean.

 

She decided to set the poor man at ease. “Relax, Dean,” she said. She made to reach over and pat his arm reassuringly, but the terrified look on his face stayed her hand. Instead she waved it unconcernedly and said, “You’re not my type, although you are handsome. You’re much too short.”

 

There, that had done the trick. Dean’s expression turned to one of affront and mock-outrage. “I’m not that short! I’m taller than you!” he shot back.

 

“But you’re shorter than Sam,” she said, pointing at his brother as if he needed the reference. Sam choked on a laugh.

 

“She’s got a point,” Bobby muttered, causing Dean to shoot another glare at him.

 

“I’ll have you know, I’m considered quite tall,” Dean said.

 

“Okay, okay,” Zahra said, holding up her hands in defeat. “I didn’t think you were so sensitive. Or maybe… you’re envious? What else are you envious about, Dean?”

 

He gaped at her in astonishment, and she was rewarded by the blush in his cheeks as Sam all but crowed in laughter. Dean muttered something under his breath, his glance murderous.

 

She waggled her eyebrows at him just as he had to her and Dean swore low and profusely as he caught on. “You’re teasing me?” he asked. He was clearly fighting a smile.

 

“You make it easy,” she said.

 

“I do not!” he replied after a pause of 0.2 seconds.

 

“Yes, you do,” she replied.

 

“You kind of do, Dean,” Sam said. He was laughing wholeheartedly now at his brother’s expense.

 

Dean gave him a droll look to rival Bobby’s.  To Zahra, he finally smiled, his blush receding. “Not bad, kid,” he said. “You give as good as you take.”

 

“Thank you,” she said, inclining her head regally.

 

The merry atmosphere was soon ruptured by the sudden arrival of Castiel. Zahra wasn’t surprised by his appearance; she had felt his approach with the Force and the flutter of hidden wings gave him away. But Sam, Dean, and Bobby all startled when he appeared behind her.

 

“Well, back so soon, Castiel?” Zahra asked without turning.

 

“Cas, what the hell happened?” Dean asked as he and Sam hastened to their feet.

 

Zahra jerked around and stared at the disheveled angel, his clothes were rumpled, his long coat torn, and his hair was messier than usual. She was on her feet in a thrice, her body more of a flash of blurred color than anything else to the hunters’ eyes. She stepped forward, placing one supportive hand on Castiel’s arm, and felt the Force flow between them. He immediately began to straighten, his bright blue eyes going to her face. He nodded in thanks, but Zahra wasn’t sure what he was thanking her for.

 

“I was nearly killed,” Castiel said, his gaze moving past her to Dean and Sam, “by Zachariah.”

 

The name brought a chill to Zahra that she could not shake. She began to tremble, fear choking her as she struggled to breathe. Sam reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she was immediately grateful for his presence as Dean and Bobby questioned the Angel of the Lord.

 

“Was he alone?” Dean asked.

 

“No, there were others. My brothers and sisters. Several of them,” Castiel said. “I killed two of them before I left.” Zahra could sense the pain in his words and voice. “They followed me. I knew I couldn’t lead them back here,” – he glanced at Zahra quickly, then away – “so I led them around the world until I confused them enough to come back here. However, I don’t think it’ll be long before they find me. So we need to leave _now_.”

 

“No,” Zahra said and was as surprised as the others at her refusal.

 

“Kid, didn’t you hear what he just said? Zachariah ambushed him! He’s probably on his way with a whole lot of angels. If they find you, there’s no telling what they’ll do,” Dean told her.

 

“I can’t leave Lowie and the droids or the wolves,” she replied heatedly, stepping away from Sam. “I’m a Jedi. We do not run from a fight and we do not abandon our friends.”

 

“Kid–!” Dean started.

 

“No,” Zahra said and pulled herself to her full height. “Go if you must. I will not hold it against you. But I am staying.”

 

“I’ll stay with her,” Castiel said. “But you three should leave. Dean, they’ll try to get you to say ‘yes’; Sam they might kill, and Bobby too. You’re in more danger than she is, I promise you.”

 

Dean didn’t look convinced. “Or we’re all in danger,” he said. “Zachariah has it out for her, and he just tried to kill you. Who knows what he’ll do to the two of you if he finds you?”

 

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Zahra said. Her lightsaber was in her hand before she finished speaking, but she did not ignite it. Yet. There was time enough for that as they waited for the arrival of the angels. No need to hasten things along by tempting fate. If you believed in that stuff. The Will of the Force and Fate were not the same, but they weren’t too different either, she was beginning to see.

 

“Well, I’m not!” Dean said. “They need me, they won’t kill me.”

 

“Are you sure?” Sam asked, doubtfully.

 

From the look on Dean’s face he wasn’t, but he said, “Yes!”

 

“Well, I don’t like the idea of running,” Bobby said. But he was pale. Zahra knew this would be too much for him.

 

She walked to his side and placed one hand on his shoulder, and used the other to grip one of his. “Bobby, go,” she said, softly, kindly, feelingly. “You have no place in this fight.” She leaned close to his ear. “And I can see that you are strained. You’ve pushed yourself too hard of late.” She pulled back to look him in the eyes. His face was twisted in pain and no small amount of anguish. But she was right and he knew it.

 

“All right,” he said in a raspy voice thick with emotion. He cleared his throat and repeated, louder this time, “All right. Sam, you and I need to get the hell out of here.”

 

“What?” Sam exclaimed, looking from the older hunter to his brother. “No. No, Bobby, we can’t!”

 

“I can’t stay here!” Bobby shouted at him. “And neither can you. They’ll be fine. I’ve no doubt they’ll be fine.” He patted Zahra’s hand on his shoulder and she squeezed it lightly before letting go. To Sam, he added, “I can’t make it back to the car without help.”

 

Sam turned a stricken expression to his brother. “Dean,” he said, helplessly. Hopelessly.

 

“Go, Sammy,” Dean replied.

 

Zahra reached over and took Sam’s hand. He looked at her and she smiled up at him. “Go, Sam,” she said softly, in the same tone of voice she’d used with Bobby. “We’ll be okay. Take care of Bobby.”

 

Sam looked beaten, and he nodded, at last, with acceptance. Bobby wheeled himself around; Sam took the handles and began to push the older hunter along. They disappeared into the forest, not once looking back.

 

Dean turned to Zahra. “What did you do?” he asked.

 

“What makes you think I did anything?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know…,” he said, shrugging. “Neither of them would have gone so easily unless you did something.”

 

Her smile was small and brittle. “The Force does give me an advantage sometimes,” she said mysteriously and left it at that. She walked around him and Castiel over to the tank. She knelt and the wolves surrounded her. She touched each of their minds and impressed upon them the danger of the coming threat. She told them, without words, that she wanted them to go into the forest and hide and not to return until she called for them. She also told them that if they did not hear her call by sundown, to assume that they never would.

 

The puppies whimpered, hunkering into their mother’s sides in fear. Thorin whined and nudged her cheek with his nose. She smiled at them all and then sent them away.

 

Standing again, she faced Dean and Castiel. They’re questioning faces stared back.

 

“I didn’t want them here just in case,” she said.

 

Castiel’s gaze was thoughtful. Dean scoffed. “They’re just wolves,” he said.

 

“They’re my friends,” she snapped, with more heat and bite than she had ever used with him.

 

His expression was startled, then, after a long moment, understanding. He nodded once and said no more.

 

The three of them stood there in silence and waited.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know how this chapter was going to end when I started it (just that I wanted to move things along as quickly as I could), but when Castiel reappeared, I began to form an idea. I know where I want the next chapter to go, but getting there is another matter. And yes, perhaps I am again straying from the show canon, but we'll get back to it soon enough. I hope you all stay along for the ride. I do know that this fic will be very, very, very long. I am both excited and terrified by that prospect, but I know it'll be fun.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen. (Maybe I should just dispense with the chapter summaries....)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could have been longer, but I just didn't want to write anymore today. I hope you like it! Comment/Review if you want to. Thanks for all the kudos and bookmarks. 
> 
> (Not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.)

_I’m a Jedi. We do not run from a fight and we do not abandon our friends._

 

When she said that, it had been the truth… although now she could not help but remember her argument with Thorin Oakenshield that had led to her departure from Erebor that first time. Yes, she was a Jedi, and all her lessons had told her to stand fast and firm. But that incident of hypocrisy still ate at her. Her feelings had been hurt, true, but had she done the right thing, then, by leaving them? She told herself, now, that Thorin could not have been reasoned with, so fast was he held in his madness. He had to come out of it on his own, and he had. But still, doubt clung to Zahra’s mind like a veil. Had she done the right thing then? She did not know. Perhaps she never would.

 

As she, Dean, and Castiel waited for the arrival of Zachariah and his angels, Artoo trilled a string of beeps and whistles. Zahra turned and hurried over to the computer and examined Lowbacca’s vitals.

 

“What is it, Threepio?” she asked the golden protocol droid. “His vitals look okay.”

 

“Artoo says that the healing processes have finished and that Lowbacca is ready to leave the tank,” Threepio explained.

 

The wave of relief that washed over Zahra was so great she swayed on her feet and had to grip the computer to keep from collapsing.

 

“Thank the Force,” she murmured and nodded to Artoo to begin the sequence to depressurize the tank to that Lowie would wake up and they could remove him safely.

 

“What’s going on?” Dean asked coming over to stand beside her. “Your friend okay?”

 

“He’s fine!” she replied, exuberant. She realized she was smiling and had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing; it didn’t seem appropriate at the moment. “He’s ready to come out. This means we’ll be four instead of three! Oh, Force, thank you!”

 

Dean nodded looking as relieved as she did that there would be another Jedi to stand against Zachariah and his squadron of angels.

 

Zahra waited as Artoo plugged back into the computer terminal on the tank. With held breath, she drummed her fingers on the sides of the small computer in front of her, her lightsaber hanging safely on her belt. Time seemed to drag on, each moment held in tension as they waited. Soon, there was a hissing sound and steam rose from the bottom of the tank as it depressurized. Another few moments lapsed as the hissing continued and steam continued to rise. Once it was cleared, Zahra walked forward and looked up at Lowbacca’s face. A moment more and his dark eyes blinked open. It took every ounce of restraint she possessed not to whoop in joy or sob in relief. She jumped to the top of the tank and began to turn the handles counter-clockwise. When she opened it, more steam flurried into the air and she waved it away. The lights of the tank dimmed and Lowbacca reached out a hand. She grabbed it, pulling him up, as his other hand grasped the edge of the tank. With her help, he was able to drag himself out of the tank and perch on the edge, his long full-bodied hair dripping wet. He shook his great head like a dog, spraying her, the droids and the nearby Dean with liquid bacta.

 

“How do you feel?” Zahra asked him as she jumped to the ground, holding her arms out to steady him if he needed to be steadied.

 

“Like I nearly died,” he answered in his grumbling growl, and oh, it was so good to hear his voice again. He slowly let himself down from the tank and stood to his full, impressive height. There was no sign that he had ever been hurt, and the girl was grateful for it. 

 

Zahra nearly choked on the emotion that welled up inside of her, blinking furiously to stay the tears that threatened to fall. “You nearly did,” she croaked out with difficulty.

 

Lowbacca – tall, sturdy, strong Lowbacca – turned deep brown eyes on her. They were moist, as if he, too, found their reunion almost too much to bear with solemn dignity. “I am sorry I worried you, young one,” he said. He reached out and placed one hand on her shoulder. “I am so very sorry. But you saved me. And for that, I shall be ever grateful.”

 

Zahra clasped his forearm between her shaking hands, conscious of the eyes of Dean and Castiel on the two of them.

 

“Glad I could help, my friend,” she said. She cleared her throat and nodded to the two droids. “Artoo and Threepio helped immensely as well.”

 

Lowie, understanding her need to divert attention from herself, turned. “Thank you both, as well. Your services are invaluable to us.”

 

“Oh, no, Lowbacca, thank nothing of it,” Threepio said, waving one hand. “Of course it is always nice to be appreciated, isn’t it, Artoo.”

 

Artoo beeped in acknowledgement. 

 

Zahra smiled, then the events of the day came back to her, squashing the relieved happiness and replacing it with no small hint of fear. Lowie, sensing this change, turned to her. “What is it?” he asked.

 

“Oh, Lowie, we’re in trouble,” she said, then proceeded to tell him of what was coming.

 

When she was finished, Lowie breathed in deeply and held out a hand. “My lightsaber,” he said.

 

Zahra hurried to the tank and picked up the device. She tossed it at him and he caught it without looking. He gripped it in his huge hands and sighed deeply. “Let them come,” he said. “We shall face these foes together, side-by-side, as Jedi and comrades. A worthier death there never was, if this is to be our end.”

 

Zahra nodded and drew herself up as well. With Lowie there, she had no fear.

 

She unhitched her own lightsaber, prepared for what was to come.

 

They came suddenly and only the Force gave them any warning. “Here they come,” Zahra said. Dean gripped his shotgun tightly in his hands and looked around, edging closer to Zahra. Castiel stepped in front of them and looked around, his angel blade in hand. The tension in the clearing rocketed up tenfold and Zahra could feel her heart racing. She called on the Force, pulling it in tight and close, soothing her fears and letting her mind clear of doubt. She could feel Lowie doing the same.

 

They did not ignite their lightsabers; they wouldn’t unless they were given no choice.

 

The sound of many flapping wings echoed around them and Zahra was suddenly spun around. She gasped, Dean turned and Lowie roared.

 

“Now, now,” Zachariah said, holding her shoulder firmly and with no small amount of pain. “Don’t get excited.” Zahra glanced around to see more angels surrounding them, all with their angle blades out, dressed in well-tailored suits. “I’m not here to cause trouble. At least not much.” He smiled down at Zahra and on anyone else it would have been genial, kind. On him it was nasty and terrifying. “You’re a hard one to pin down, kid.”

 

“Sorry?” she said without apology, edging backwards, trying to dislodge his grip on her shoulder. She had a fear that the Force wouldn’t work on him in the waking world anymore than it had in the dream. From the corner of her eye she saw Dean take one small step forward, fingers flexing on his shotgun as if he wanted to reach out and yank her back.

 

“Oh, don’t worry. We found you in the end. Gonna tell me your name now?” And his grip tightened to such a degree it dragged her shoulder down, pain racing down her arm and into her back. She gasped. Zachariah smiled.

 

“Your name,” he repeated, demandingly.

 

“Zahra!” she choked out finally.

 

He laughed and released her. She stumbled back and Dean caught her, pulling her into his side protectively. She felt more than saw Castiel step closer, hiding her back from the angels surrounding them.

 

“Zahra,” the angel repeated. “Such a pretty name.” He looked between her and Lowie. “You two really shouldn’t be here…,” he began then trailed off when he caught sight of the Millennium Falcon. “What happened here?” he asked, clearly shocked.

 

Zahra glared at him, mutinous in her silence, refusing to speak. Dean, however, had no such compunction.

 

“Some demons paid a visit yesterday,” he all but snarled. Zachariah looked startled, then his eyes narrowed in thought as he glanced from the ship to the two Jedi. “They were sent by Lucifer.”

 

“Why?” Zachariah asked.

 

“How the hell should we know?” Dean growled.

 

“Boy, shut up,” the angel said tiredly. “I’ll get to you in a moment. You too, Castiel. Running us around the world on a wild goose chase… bad form. My concern at the moment is the Jedi and what they’re doing here. I told you not to get involved, little girl. Look what it’s led to.” He waved a hand around.

 

“Bantha shit!” Zahra cursed. “You wanted me to attract the Winchester’s attention. You wanted me to get Dean to say ‘yes’ to Michael! You wanted all of this. Why lie now?”

 

Zachariah paused. “You told them? About the deal? You said you’d think about it.”

 

“I said what I needed to, to get you out of my head,” Zahra replied.

 

Zachariah laughed. “Oh, kid, I like you. You’ve got guts. You must have to lie to an angel.”

 

Zahra swallowed not sure of what he was implying but knowing that she didn’t like it. “I answer to a higher power than you,” she said.

 

“What, the Force?” he mocked.

 

“Yes,” she said. She stepped away from Dean and drew herself up. “What do you want? To kill me? Why? What have I done to incur your wrath? We came here by accident, our ship was blown up and now we can’t leave.”

 

“As much as I would enjoy blowing you to atoms, no, I’m not going to kill you,” Zachariah said. “You’re much too valuable for that. Your, er, friends on the other hand….” He looked past her, to Castiel, to Dean.

 

“Don’t you touch them,” she threatened.

 

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” Zachariah scoffed. “You can’t kill an angel with your little laser sword. You’d just be killing the host.”

 

She paused, taking in his words. “You’re possessing someone?” she asked, tone filled with shock.

 

“Of course. But unlike demons, we ask permission first,” Zachariah said, like that made it any better.

 

So, she couldn’t kill them. If she did, she’d just be hurting the hosts.

 

“Like I give a damn,” Dean said and raised his shotgun.

 

It was the signal everyone had been waiting for apparently. The angels drew their long blades and came at them. Castiel whirled, his own blade in hand and Dean fired round after round.

 

“Kid, fight!” Dean shouted. “It’s them or us!”

 

She knew he was right. She knew it. But that could not erase the sorrow she felt at taking innocent life. She looked at Lowie. He nodded at her, expression grim but unyielding, and ignited his lightsaber, the bronze blade humming to life. He whirled and began to fight, cutting of the hands of several angels as they attacked him with one clean swipe.

 

Zahra swallowed, and her own blade hummed into the air. She gripped it in both hands and turned to spring to Dean’s aide, but she was caught by someone again. She looked up… at Zachariah’s annoyed face.

 

She grappled with him, twisting until her blade almost touched his face. He jerked back and threw her across the clearing, over the heads of the opposing forces. She landed with a heavy grunt, before leaping to her feet again. She scanned the small crowd and found Zachariah standing behind two other angels on the other side of the clearing.

 

Gripping the Force around her, she launched herself into the air again, executing a perfect somersault and landing in front of them. She raked her lightsaber across the chests of both angels and advanced on Zachariah when they fell.

 

He drew his own angel blade and attacked. There blades struck… and held and Zahra felt her jaw slacken in shock. There were few things that could stop a lightsaber, but apparently the angel blades were one.

 

Zachariah looked as shocked as she did, but then he smiled. He pushed back at her and his greater weight and strength drove her back. They dueled furiously, though it was quickly obvious that Zahra, despite her youth, was the better duelist. The strain and aggravation showed on the angel’s face and he growled in annoyance.

 

The clearing was filled with the sounds of fighting, grunts, gunshots echoing, and bright white lights that were the angels fleeing their hosts. Zahra gave herself over to the Force, her one objective being to fight Zachariah. All else was unimportant, until…

 

“Holy shit!” someone shouted.

 

That was the fatal moment.

 

Zahra recognized the voice and glanced to her left. Sam and Bobby stood at the clearing’s edge, looking at the dead bodies scattered around, the angels that had possessed the bodies having fled or been killed. Only Zachariah stood and he took advantage of Zahra’s momentary lack of concentration. He pushed her so hard, their blades locked together again, that she fell.

 

What happened next happened too quickly for anyone to really follow, save the angels and Lowbacca.

 

Zahra fell to her back and looked up to see Zachariah driving his blade down towards her exposed right flank. He didn’t intend to kill, only wound. Still, Zahra rolled to her right and was on her feet in a move too fast for human eyes to follow. That was the only explanation for what happened then. Later, no one could fault Dean for his actions; he clearly wasn’t used to humans moving at Force speeds.

 

So when he raised his gun and fired, he hadn’t expected Zahra to stand up and block his shot at Zachariah.

 

But she did.

 

Zahra felt something hard hit her in the back. She stumbled once but caught herself as all other movement in the clearing ceased. Something… hurt. Something hurt… bad. She swayed once, her lightsaber falling from suddenly slack fingers and deactivating before it hit the ground. She looked down at herself. Something wet and red was spreading across her tunic. She lifted her arm just enough to pull her tunic around. Something wet and red was on the back of her tunic as well, along with a hole. Oh, there was one on the front too.

 

“Wha…?” she murmured.

 

She touched the red substance and brought her hand up to inspect it. Blood. That was what it was. Which meant… “I’ve been shot,” Zahra said with a curious detached feeling. Had she been shot? Was she sure? Maybe it was somebody else…?

 

Then the pain hit, white hot and blinding. She swayed again, falling to her knees, pain jolting her and lancing through the wound in her left side. She cried out, and fell forward. The green of the grass was the last thing she saw before darkness swam up around her and pulled her under.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did we learn from this chapter? 1) Lightsabers can cut through almost anything... except angel blades. 2) Zachariah doesn't want to kill the Jedi, though he'd like to. Real nice of him. 3) Dean does not know how to compensate for Jedi skills in a fight. He'll learn. 4) Apparently Sam and Bobby don't listen very well. 
> 
> Did I miss anything? 
> 
> Next chapter is forthcoming... at some point. As you may have guessed, there is no rhyme or reason to my posting schedule. I think, though, I will try hard and make the next chapter super long. But, we'll see.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a trip far away, then return to our regularly scheduled program.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is LONG, like I promised. I worked all weekend on it and I'm very proud of the result. I'm excited about what's to come. Things are starting to move along and Zahra takes great strides in this chapter. Enjoy!
> 
> Leave a comment/review if you want. 
> 
> (Not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.)

Gandalf the Gray puffed languidly on his long pipe, enjoying the bustle and conversations of the Prancing Pony. His tankard of mead was frothing and he drank deeply for a moment before returning to his pipe. He sat before the fire, his thoughts turned inward. He was trying to decide where he should go next now that his business in the Shire was finished, at least for the time being. Perhaps to Rivendell? He had not paid a visit to Lord Elrond for some time and had not seen his old friend since Zahra’s departure at Erebor.

The barmaid hurried over, a plate of bread and cheese and a bowl of beef stew balanced in her hands. “Sorry about the wait, love,” she said, putting the food down in front of him. “There’s a long line at the bar.”

“It’s quite all right, my dear,” Gandalf assured with a kindly smile. He picked up his spoon and began to eat but stopped when the barmaid hurried back over.

“You’re Gandalf the Gray, right?” she asked.

Gandalf straightened. “I am. Is there something the matter, dear?”

“Nothing the matter,” she said and reached into her apron. “This came for you this morning. Wasn’t sure when you’d be by, but here you go.” She held out a letter, the red-wax seal bearing a familiar crest, and thanked her. She hurried off again when she was called for by the bartender.

Gandalf set the letter next to his bowl of stew and began to eat, every so often glancing at the letter. He had just left the Shire. What could Bilbo possibly want?

Finishing his meal and his mead, Gandalf stuck his pipe into his mouth, stuffed in full of Longbottom Leaf and lit it with a flick of his wrist. Then he picked up the letter, slit the seal and opened it. He read through it once, then sat up as concern morphed every line of his body. He started the letter over, trying to make sense of what he was reading. After a third read-through, he sat, puffing thoughtfully on his pipe.

After a long evening spent in thought, Gandalf paid for his meal, slipped the letter into one of the pockets of his, grabbed up his staff and hurried out into the growing night.

*

He walked up the Hill to Bag End, leaning on his staff. He nodded to the gardener as he wheeled his wheel-barrow down the lane. The hobbit nodded back and they passed each other without any other form of greeting.

Gandalf opened the small gate and shut it behind him. He knocked on the door with his staff, stepped back and waited. When the door opened, Gandalf smiled down at his friend.

“Good after noon, Bilbo,” he said.

“Gandalf!” the gentle-hobbit exclaimed. “What are you – I mean, you got my letter?”

“I did,” Gandalf said.

The relief on Bilbo’s face was profound and sudden.

“I came to discuss it with you,” the wizard continued.

“Of course,” Bilbo said. “Come in, Gandalf, come in.”

The wizard was quickly ushered in then divested of his hat, cloak and staff. He was led to Bilbo’s kitchen where the hobbit had been having afternoon tea and told to make himself comfortable. No small feat in a hobbit kitchen. Gandalf sat in one of the small chairs, his knees becoming level with his chin. He waited as Bilbo poured him a cup of elderberry tea and loaded a small plate with scones. The tea was handed to him, the plate along with a jar of blackberry jam set on the table before him. Gandalf accepted both with murmured thanks and sipped his tea slowly, watching the hobbit from under his thick brows.

He was pale, Gandalf could see. His face drawn and lines of worry etched into it from long nights of little sleep. His movements were harried one moment, then sluggish the next as if he was unsure of what to do next. More than once Gandalf caught a faraway look on the hobbit’s face, as if his thoughts were both turned inward and outward at once. Given the contents of his letter to the wizard, Gandalf could not blame him for his introspection.

In due course (and after a hearty scone slathered in jam), Gandalf set his empty tea cup down. Bilbo refilled it as a matter of course then sat back down again.

“Bilbo,” Gandalf said and waited as the hobbit dragged his eyes from the small brown teapot to meet the wizard’s eyes. “Tell me what happened.”

“It was all in the letter,” Bilbo said.

“I know it was,” Gandalf nodded his head. “But often times the written word cannot truly convey our thoughts. Tell me what happened.”

Bilbo looked at him then took a bracing swallow of tea. He set his cup back onto its saucer and rubbed his hands together as if they were cold, despite the fire at his back.  

“I was dreaming, I know that, but I’d never had a dream like it before,” Bilbo began in a quiet voice that grew, slowly, in strength with each word he spoke. “I was sitting in my armchair by the fire. It was late at night. I was reading a particularly fascinating book about the history of the Second Age. Really, Gandalf, it was most interesting, did you know that --.”

“Bilbo….”

“Right. Sorry. Bit off topic. Anyway, I was reading when the whole Hill was rocked by a windstorm so strong it blew open every door and window. Wind wept through Bag End like it was at the top of a mountain peak, damp and bitterly cold. Well, I thought, in my dream, what all the damp would do to the floors, the books and the upholstery, so I hurried around the place shutting and locking every window that there was. I shut the back door, and was making my way along the hall when… when I saw her.” Here he paused, and took another long drink of his tea.

“Her?” Gandalf inquired quietly. “How do you know it was a ‘her’?”

Bilbo looked up at him. “I could tell by her silhouette.” Gandalf gazed at the hobbit thoughtfully then nodded for him to continue. “Well, she was just standing there, staring out into the yard. It was so quiet, Gandalf. There was something… eerie about the whole thing, but I wasn’t afraid. I took one step closer to her and immediately I knew who it was standing in my door.”

“Who was it?” Gandalf asked, although Bilbo’s letter had been quite clear on the matter.

“I called out to her. I said her name. ‘Zahra!’ I called. And she turned, so slowly, to face me. There was something strange about her movements, Gandalf. As if she a puppet on strings, jerking in fits and starts to face me.” He paused again, clasping his hands together as if in prayer, his eyes closed tightly as if to banish the image from his mind’s eye. “She was injured, Gandalf. Blood covered her shirt, dripped down her pants and boot, pooling on the floor. Her gaze went to me, but she didn’t look _at_ me. I went to her, touched or, or tried to. My hand passed right through her. It was as if she wasn’t there, or maybe it was that I wasn’t there.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“Did she say anything?” Gandalf asked in that calm, quiet voice of his.

Bilbo opened his eyes and looked fearfully up at the wizard. “She said – yes, she said something.”

“What did she say, Bilbo?” Gandalf asked.

The hobbit was practically trembling now. Gandalf leaned forward as much as the cramped space would allow and leveled his calm blue stare at his friend. “What did she say, Bilbo, tell me,” he murmured.

“She – she said…. Oh, Gandalf, she said ‘Help me’….” Bilbo whispered.

Gandalf sat back, taking in a deep breath, trying to process the whole thing. “Then what happened?” he asked after a long, long pause in which the two, wizard and hobbit, merely looked at one another.

“She was surrounded by a white light that came through the door. Or perhaps it _was_ the door…? Anyway, it was bright. So bright it hurt to look at. I thought my eyes would burn out of my head. I looked away, covering my eyes. When I opened them, she was gone.” Bilbo stood abruptly, went into his pantry and brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses. He poured them both a generous amount with shaking hands and downed his in one go. “When I woke,” he continued in a subdued voice, “I was tangled in my sheets, covered in sweat. I fell out of my bed trying to untangle myself.” He gave a brief, mirthless laugh.

At Gandalf’s continued silence, Bilbo looked up, beseeching. “What does it mean, Gandalf?” he asked the wizard. “What could it mean?”

Gandalf heaved a sigh and downed his own small (to his hands) glass of wine. “I do not know for certain, Bilbo,” the wizard said. “But what I do know, in my heart, is that Zahra Rivers is in a great deal of danger.”

“Well, what do we do? How do we help her?” Bilbo asked hurriedly.

“Help her? Bilbo, I don’t think we can. She is far away from Arda now. There is no telling where she is or even if we could find her. I doubt we have the means to do that,” the wizard replied.

“Gandalf, she’s our friend. And if she is, as you say, in danger, then we must find a way to help her. We must!” Bilbo said.

Gandalf looked at the Hobbit and thought back to one of his last conversations with Zahra Rivers. He’d been trying to make her feel better about leaving Arda and all her new-found friends; to show her that no matter what, they would _always_ be friends.

_“Because I love all of you!” she exclaimed. “I will always remember this world and everyone and everything in it. Physically I will leave, but my memories, my feelings will keep us together. Our friendship will continue as long as we remember one another!”_

_Gandalf smiled, pride filling his eyes, the tears retreating. “There you have it,” he said, pointing at her with his pipe. “There you have it.”_

She had got there in the end. And when she left, she left with the knowledge that her love for all her friends was reciprocated. And here sat Bilbo Baggins, brave, little Bilbo, who was showing the truth of those words with his fervent request. The bonds of love and friendship were steadfast and irrevocable, no matter the distance between them.

“All right, Bilbo,” Gandalf conceded. “Tomorrow I shall set off for Rivendell. I will speak with Lord Elrond and have him call a meeting of the White Council. I will tell them of your dream and your worries – and I freely admit I share them – and ask for their guidance. Perhaps they will know what to do.”

Bilbo sank back into his seat, relief plain on his tired face. “Thank you, Gandalf,” he said earnestly. “Thank you.” And, after a moment, he said, “What will we tell Thorin?”

“Not a word of this must be mentioned to Thorin, Bilbo. Zahra is very dear to him and if he should learn of her troubles he will stop at nothing to get to her. He’s far too busy in Erebor to mind this. Unless and until we know there is something we can do for Zahra, Thorin must be kept in the dark. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Gandalf,” he nodded. “Well,” he continued and stood. “I had better get dinner started. You’re welcome to stay, Gandalf. I have a room that’s specifically made for any Big People who come to visit. It’s yours for the night, if you want it.”

“Thank you, I shall take it,” Gandalf said, marveling silently at the change his paltry assurance had rendered in the hobbit. He moved with more confidence and ease than he had before their little interview.

“Gandalf,” Bilbo said after several moments of quiet.

“Yes?”

“I’m going with you.”

“My dear Bilbo, I expected nothing less.”

*

**Far Across the Universe**

Zahra swam back into consciousness without opening her eyes. She let her senses tell her of her surroundings. Something, a machine of some kind, was beeping near her left side. There were people in near her; she could hear them breathing, shifting on their feet. A warm hand encircled hers at her side, smoothing small circles into the back of it.

She was cold. A shiver passed through her. The air smelled sterile, clean. Was she in a hospital? Another shiver ran through her, stronger than the last.

“She’s cold,” someone said. A man. He stood near the foot of her bed.

“One of you go ask a nurse for another blanket,” came a voice from nearer. The owner of the hand, no doubt. His voice was older, grouchy.

Shuffling footsteps and then a tired sigh. “Idjit,” the older man said.

“Bobby…,” the first man said.

“No, Sam, he is. Beating himself up over this. It was an accident!” Bobby said.

“Dean does have a tendency to blame himself when things go wrong whether the blame is warranted or not,” came a third voice.

“Oh, gee, you think?” Bobby snarked.

Sam sighed this time.

Footsteps approached.

“Oh, thanks, Dean,” Sam said. A grunt answered him.

Zahra lay there, quietly shivering, until something soft was placed over her and she was tucked in. Another blanket.

Zahra opened her eyes, saw a blinding white light overhead, and shut them again.

“Her eyes opened,” Sam whispered.

“Are you sure?” Bobby asked.

“Positive. She opened them then shut them again.”

Zahra braced herself and opened her eyes a smidgen. The light came from overhead. She blinked away her sleepiness and turned her head to the left. Bobby sat there in his wheelchair, his hand holding hers, a worried frown on his face.

“Bobby…,” she croaked and tried to clear her throat.

“Shhh,” he hushed her. He released her hand and picked up a paper cup from the bedside table. “Some water. Can you drink?”

“Um-hmm,” she said weakly. She tried to sit up then gasped as pain shot through her abdomen, concentrating in her left side.

“Whoa, whoa, don’t try to move. I’ll lift you. Or, er, Cas, you lift her head up,” Bobby said.

Zahra glanced to her right in time to see Castiel lean forward, slip on hand under her head, the other on her shoulder to lift her up. As she moved her head to take the cup between her lips, she saw Sam at the foot of her bed looking relieved that she was awake… and Dean slouched in the corner with a subdued look on his face.

She drank greedily, her throat parched. When she had her fill, she pulled back. Bobby placed the cup down and Castiel slowly lowered her.

After a moment in which she had to catch her breath, she asked, her voice stronger than before, “What happened?”

Tension filled the small room.

“What do you remember?” Castiel asked finally.

She thought it over. What did she remember?

“I was fighting Zachariah…,” she began slowly. She looked at Bobby and Sam. “You came back.”

They both looked down, shame-faced. “It didn’t feel right,” Sam said, “just leaving like that. So, yeah, we came back.”

Zahra blinked at him. She’d used the Force to compel the two of them to leave, but somehow it hadn’t worked? How did that make any sense?

“Believe me, I was all for going back to the car,” Bobby said. “It was Sam’s idea to go back.”

Zahra looked at Sam, assessing. Perhaps there was more to him. Or perhaps he was too strong-willed to be swayed by the Force for long.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “You came back and then… was I shot?”

“Yeah,” Sam said. She didn’t miss the glance he cast at Dean. She looked too, surprised to see pain flash across the elder Winchester’s face.

“Oh,” was all she could manage to say.

She looked at Castiel. “Did you heal me?”

Castiel sighed just a bit. “I tried,” he said. They were interrupted, suddenly, by Dean. He didn’t say anything. He merely shoved away from the wall and stalked out of the room. Zahra watched him go in confusion and no small bit of pain. She tried not to let it show but was unsure of her success. If her thoughts or feelings showed on her face, however, the remaining men had the grace to say nothing of it.

“Where’s he going?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Knowing him? To get drunk,” Sam said, scowling down the hall after his departing brother. He looked back at her in time to see the startled look on her face. “Don’t worry, Zahra. He’s more upset with himself than with anyone else.”

She didn’t question the why of it. She knew.

“Go on,” she urged Castiel.

“As I was saying, I tried to heal you,” the angel said. “The bullet nicked your large intestine. You were bleeding internally. It would have been fatal but… I felt something… _move_ through me. I felt my grace renew itself. It wasn’t much, but just enough to stop the bleeding and seal the wound in your intestine. I was unable to do more and brought you here along with Bobby.”

“Where are we?” she asked, looking to the older hunter.

“A hospital in Denver, Colorado,” Bobby replied. “Had to do some finagling to convince people that you’re my daughter. For the record, if anyone asks, you accidentally stabbed yourself when you were helping me cut some onions.”

She raised an eyebrow at that. “Finagling?”

“We had to forge insurance, birth records and a whole bunch of other stuff on the fly,” he explained. “Not fun, but Sam and Dean pulled it off in record time.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, looking between the three men. It went without saying that the thanks extending to Dean as well. Sam, understanding her unspoken intent, nodded in gratitude.

“What about Zachariah?” she asked. “Where did he go?”

“After you were shot and lost consciousness,” Castiel explained, “and I healed you, he left. Well, he said ‘Impossible,’ then he left.”

“What did he mean by that?”

“I… have an idea….” Castiel’s expression closed itself off and he stopped talking.

“Well? You gonna share it with the class?” Bobby asked.

Castiel took a deep breath. “It’s just a theory,” he said.

“So? What is it?”

Castiel sighed. “You know that since Lucifer rose, I’ve been cut off from Heaven and its power. It’s why I couldn’t heal your legs.”

“Yeah we know. Go on.”

“Well, by that standard, I should not have been able to heal Zahra’s wound like I did.”

“What are you saying?” Sam asked.

“I said that I felt something move through me, right?”

“Yeah,” Bobby said slowly.

“It felt like… a higher being,” the angel said. At their confused looks, he amended, “It felt like God.”

“God?” Sam asked.

“God. Yes.” Castiel looked down at Zahra. “I think God helped me to heal you.”

Zahra blinked up at him. After a moment of thought, she asked, “Why?”

There was no mistaking the amusement on Castiel’s face. “You and Dean are more alike than either of you seem to realize. Can’t you just believe that you are meant to be saved?” 

“I don’t know,” she said in all honesty. “What’s so special about me? Why should I be saved? What am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know,” Castiel said. “But there must be some purpose. Perhaps He has work for you. You’ll have to find out on your own.”

“All I want is to go home,” she said. Then she remembered. Force above, how had she forgotten? “Oh, no! Lowie. The wolves!” She tried to sit up again, but gasped in pain and was pushed back down by both Bobby and Castiel this time. “No! I have to go! I have to see them!”

“Will you just hold your horses?” Bobby cried. “You’re not going anywhere, young lady, not for a few days at least. You’re gonna rip your stitches out if you’re not careful, then that nurse’ll have my hide! You should’ve seen the look on her face when we brought you in. You were so pale and blood was everywhere. Hell, I thought she’d skin me alive!”

“I just might!” came a voice from the doorway. A tall, imposing woman of middling years stood there, her graying brown hair swept back into a severe bun. Her green shirt and pants and white shoes did little to diminish her presence. She strode in and Bobby wheeled out of her way. She looked down at Zahra. “So, you’re awake. When your brother stormed out of here, I wondered if something was wrong, but no alarms went off. I peeked in, saw you awake and speaking and decided to give you and your family a few minutes alone before I came in. How do you feel? Good? Do you hurt? A little? On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain? Five? Well that’s normal. I’ll give you a little more morphine – there you are – but not too much. It’s easy to get addicted to the stuff. Now then, this’ll probably put you to sleep. Mr. Singer, you be sure to get her to eat something the next time she wakes up. It’s getting late. Visiting hours are almost over. One of you can stay, but only one, do you understand? I won’t have any pajama parties in my ward, no thank you. Well, good night, dear, and good day to you, Mr. Singer.”

As quickly as she had come, the nurse, whose nametag had read Jackie, left. Zahra blinked after her, putting down her hand that had held up her fingers to display how much pain she was in. She looked at Bobby.

“See what I mean?” he asked.

Zahra nodded mutely. She looked at Sam. “Brother?” she inquired.

He smiled, looking embarrassed. “It was the only way we could get back here to see you. Dean and I are your ‘brothers’ and Cas is your ‘cousin’. Okay?”

“Okay. Makes sense, I guess,” she said.

Then she yawned.

“Well, she was right about one thing. You need your rest,” Bobby said. “I’ll stay with you –.”

“No, Bobby,” Sam said. “I’ll stay.”

“Both of you should leave,” Castiel interjected. “Find Dean, go back to the motel and get some sleep. I’ll stay with Zahra.”

“Are you sure, Cas?” Sam asked.

Castiel nodded. “I do not require sleep.”

“You don’t?” Zahra asked as her lids began to droop. She fought to keep them up.

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, all right then. Zahra, we’ll come see you tomorrow,” Bobby said.

“Okay. Sam?”

“Yes?” He paused at the door to look back.

“Bring Dean tomorrow,” she murmured.

“I will,” she heard Sam promise just before she drifted off.

*

It was dark when she woke again. She lay for a long time, staring at the ceiling, trying to urge herself back to sleep so she could return to the dream she’d been having. She wasn’t aware she was crying until Castiel’s hand touched her wet cheeks.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, concern and confusion heavy in his tone.

“Because I’m sad,” she whispered.

Moonlight filtered through the window above her bed, casting everything in silver shadow. She turned her head to see Castiel, in an uncomfortable looking chair to her left. He wiped her cheeks with his fingers and she didn’t object.

“Why are you sad?” he asked.

“Because I was having such a good dream.”

Her cheeks were dry now, and Castiel pulled his hand back into his lap. “Tell me,” he said kindly.

So she did. She told him about the Lonely Mountain, about the dwarven city of Erebor beneath it, about Thorin and Filí and Kilí and all her dwarven friends. She told him about Gandalf and Bilbo and how the whole Company had sat around a long table, feasting on roast pork, ham, pheasant, and enough fruits and vegetables to feed an entire planet. How the gold of the inner halls had cast shimmering light over everything. She’d been so happy in that dream. So happy she had woken up crying.

Castiel listened in silence and when she was done, he pressed two fingers to her forehead. She slept.

*

“Dean you’re being a dick,” Sam told his brother. They were back in their motel room and Dean was on his fourth beer. Well, the fourth since Sam had been there. The empty bottles on the small table before him attested to a much longer binge.

“Is that right?” Dean asked. “Is that right, Sammy?”

“Yes, Dean. That’s right. You should have seen her face when you walked out of there. She was hurt and confused! She wanted you to stay! And what did you do? You walked out, came here and started a pity party of one!”

“She doesn’t want me there!” Dean slurred, finishing off his beer. He tossed it into the trashcan where it shattered. He pumped a fist. “Score!”

“Dean, are you even listening to me?” Sam asked exasperated.

“Oh, come on, Sam!” Dean shouted, whirling on his brother and almost tripping on his unsteady feet. He gripped the table for support and upended it. He fell to the floor, the empty beer bottles bouncing along the carpet around him. Dean shook his head and rubbed his face. He glared up at Sam. “You gonna help me up?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not you’re going to continue to act like a total jackass,” Sam retorted. “And on whether or not you’ll go to see Zahra tomorrow.”

Dean flinched at the name. Sam held a hand out to him.

Dean blinked at it until it came into focus. Then he smacked it away. He stumbled to his feet on his own. “She doesn’t want to see me,” he said.

“She does, Dean,” Sam replied, following after his brother. Dean lurched into the bathroom and grabbed the counter for support. When it didn’t tip over too, he seemed surprised. He grinned drunkenly at his reflection in the mirror. Then he saw Sam behind him, and the grin slid away.

“What, you gonna watch me hit the head?” he asked with another glare.

“You look like shit and your acting worse,” Sam growled.

“Oh, don’t be such a nag, Sam,” Dean said. He turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face. “Why do you care if I go see her or not?”

“Because I care about Zahra.”

“Sam, we barely know the girl!”

“Do you even hear yourself right now?” Sam asked in disbelief. “So what if we barely know her? Dean, you shot her!”

“She got in the way!” Dean turned to face him, leaning on the counter behind him. “It’s not my fault.”

“So that’s what all this is, huh?”

“Huh?”

“The walking out, the drinking,” Sam said. “You’re trying to convince yourself that you don’t care. That it’s her fault she got shot, not yours.” He raked his brother with a contemptuous look. “You’re so full of shit.”

_“Huh?”_

“This, all this, is about you. You hate that you shot her, you feel guilty about it! Well, dammit, Dean, so what? She’s the one that’s hurt. Now in more ways than one, because you left without saying a damn thing to her!”

“I don’t have to!”

“Yes, you do! You will. I mean it, Dean. The both of us have done some really messed up shit in the past, but this won’t be one of them.”

Dean gaped at his brother in silence. Sam watched him, wondering just what was going through his brother’s mind. He really had no idea. Dean rarely got drunk. Not this drunk, not shit-faced. This was whole new territory for the younger Winchester.

“Dean,” he continued in a quieter voice, most of the heat and anger gone dry. “Dean, you’re better than this. Go see her tomorrow. She wants to see you.”

“Why?” his brother whispered.

“I don’t know. She likes you I guess. She wants to be friends,” Sam said. “And she’s mostly alone now. Lowbacca, the droids, the wolves….” Sam stopped and shook his head. “Dean, just go see her.”

Dean stared at him. His words finally seemed to sink in. Dean looked down, closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face and through his short hair. He nodded.

“You’re right, Sam,” Dean said. “You’re right.”

Dean straightened and made to move past Sam, but was blocked.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sam asked him.

“To the hospital, where else?” Dean replied, incredulous.

“No, you’re not.”

“What? But you just said –!” Dean began.

“In the morning, idiot, when you’re sober and we’ve all had some rest!” Sam said. “Besides, visiting hours are over. Cas is with her right now, and Bobby is exhausted. He’s probably already asleep. Just get some rest and try not to choke on your own vomit, please.”

Dean harrumphed and nodded. “Fine,” he said. “Will you step back? I really do have to piss.”

Sam stepped back into the room and Dean shut the door in his face.

Sam sighed and undressed, slipping into a pair of comfortable sweats and an old rock-band tee-shirt. Dean exited the bathroom a few minutes later, looking like he’d passed exhaustion a few miles back. He stripped to his boxers and crawled into his bed. Sam watched him, exasperated. Dean was snoring in three seconds.

Sam shook his head. He pulled the covers over his brother and turned him on his side, just in case he did throw up. Then he slipped into the second bed and was soon lost to the world.

*

“Dean, wake up!”

Dean groaned and rolled over onto his back. He opened sleep-heavy eyes and glared at Sam. “What?” he asked.

“Get up. Get dressed. We have to go to the hospital,” Sam urged. He was already dressed. He held up a small white take-out bag. “I got you some breakfast burritos and coffee.”

The scent of the food made Dean groan.

“Unless you’re gonna be sick,” Sam added.

Dean slowly sat up, his head swimming. He shook it. “Got any Tylenol?”

A bottle was pressed into his hand along with a water bottle. Dean popped a few of the pills and downed the entire bottle. He swung his legs over the bed and stood shakily. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” he said, then made his way to the bathroom to shower. Ten minutes later, he came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. He grabbed some fresh clothes and went back inside. A minute later, he exited, dressed, shaved, and looking like he’d been run over by an eighteen-wheeler.

He grabbed the bag of food and coffee from his brother. “Let’s go,” he said.

“Good. Bobby’s waiting.”

Dean grunted, nursing his coffee as they left the motel.

“Damn, boy,” Bobby greeted them. “You look like shit.”

“I feel like shit,” Dean agreed.

“Yeah? Well, good,” the older hunter said. He wheeled himself past the two of them and over to the Impala. “Shotgun!”

Dean sighed. He handed Sam the car keys. “You drive,” he said and hopped into the back seat. He supposed this was his punishment for the way he’d acted the previous day. Not that he could blame them. In hindsight, he could see that he’d acted like an asshole.

The ride to the hospital was quiet. Dean wolfed down his breakfast and coffee in record time, surprised he didn’t get sick. If anything, the food seemed to help the nauseous feeling in his stomach. That is, until they pulled into the hospital parking lot and Sam drove around looking for a place to park. Then, the sickening feeling came back and Dean recognized it for what it was: dread. He was dreading seeing Zahra again. He didn’t know what to say to her. Apologize, yes, that was a given, but other than that… what should he say.

Sam found a spot and pulled in. Before either of the Winchesters could get out, though, Bobby stopped them.

“Just a minute, boys,” he said. Dean suppressed a sigh, knowing there was a dressing down in his very near future. He was right. Bobby twisted sideways, throwing one arm over the back of Sam’s seat. He looked squarely at Dean. “Dean, you shot her,” he said, not bothering to mince words. Dean flinched. “But that doesn’t mean you need to beat yourself up over it. Sam and I came back, when I know she didn’t want us there. She used the Force on us, didn’t she? Some kind of Jedi mind-trick.”

Dean nodded.

“Well, it worked, at least on me, not so much Sam. Boy’s too damn stubborn, I guess,” Bobby continued. Sam gave a weak smile but said nothing. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that we distracted her. Maybe if we hadn’t’ve come back, we wouldn’t be here now, about to go visit her in a hospital. Look at me, Dean!” Dean looked. “You boys have a habit of blaming yourself for everything that happens whether it’s your fault or not. I know it, you know it, Cas knows it. That girl up there probably knows it too, or she will. What I’m trying to say is that shit happens. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but shit happens whether we do anything or not. You boys are already blaming yourselves for the Apocalypse. Don’t blame yourself for this too. She’s going to be okay. That girl’s a fighter.  I know we haven’t known her long, but I can tell that. She’s a fighter. And we’re gonna need her before all this is over, I got no doubt. So stop blaming yourself, stop feeling guilty. Go up there, talk to her, apologize and just sit with her. Dean Winchester, if you can’t even face her like this, you’re more of a coward than I ever realized. Now let’s go.”

Dean exited the car, helped Bobby into his wheelchair and the three of them made their way into the hospital. All the while, Dean was thinking over what Bobby had said. Stop blaming himself? Well, that was easier said than done. Everything bad that had ever happened to someone close to the Winchesters had always felt, somehow, like it was his fault. He knew that that was a ridiculous and perhaps even dangerous mindset to have, but he couldn’t help it. Maybe that was just the way he was. Hardwired to blame himself for anything and everything under the sun.

He began to form an apology in his mind, but he was coming up blank. The ride up the elevator was strained with unreleased tension. He really needed to find a case, and soon. He was getting itchy with the need to kill something. That, too, was probably not a healthy mindset.

When the elevator doors pinged open, the three hunters were greeted by the domineering Nurse Jackie. Dean tried not to laugh at the name.

“So, you’re back!” she said to them. “Well, go on in! Your nephew is still in there. He hasn’t come out, so I guess she’s still asleep. If she isn’t let me know, I’ll check her vitals. I checked them last night and she was in excellent shape. She’ll probably be allowed to leave in a day or two. We’ll go over everything then, but you make sure she isn’t around anymore knives. I don’t want her back here too soon, thank you.” She turned back to her computer, effectively dismissing them.

The three hunters, appropriately cowed, slunk past the nurses’ station and to Zahra’s room. Sam slid the door open and they peaked in and got a welcome surprise (for two of them) and a dreaded one for another.

“Well, well, you’re awake!” Bobby exclaimed rolling in.

“Good morning, Bobby,” Zahra said smiling. Castiel stood and pushed his chair out of Bobby’s way.

“Well, you look a hell of a lot better than you did yesterday,” Bobby said. Dean slipped inside and went over to the corner he’d been propping up the day before.

“I feel better,” Zahra said. Just then, Nurse Jackie, who Sam had gone to fetch, came in.

“Well, look at you. Bright as bird in spring time, aren’t you? Let me just check… well, everything seems just fine. Any pain? No? Well, good. I’ll be back in, in a little while to change your dressings and have a look at your stitches. You hungry? Well, either you can tell me what you want or you can send one of your family members down to get you something. Just holler if you want me to, okay? See you in a bit,” the nurse said as she sauntered out.

Zahra, acting as if nothing had interrupted them, turned back to Bobby. “Actually, I had Castiel go back to the ship this morning. He brought back some bacta for me. I took the pills and they’re doing much better than whatever they were giving me here.”

“What’s bacta?”

“It’s basically a cure-all medicine,” she said. “It was liquid bacta in the tank I put Lowbacca in. What I took was its pill form.”

“It can cure anything?” Bobby asked.

Zahra smiled gently at him. “If you’re asking for your legs, the answer is I don’t know.”

“Well, I was just curious,” Bobby said, like it didn’t matter. But Dean could tell that it did.

It also had not escaped him that Zahra hadn’t looked at him once since they’d arrived. He wasn’t jealous, he told himself. Not by a long shot. He deserved it.

This was exactly the kind of thinking that Bobby had been talking about, he told himself. He gave himself a mental shake and focused on the conversation again.

“How were they?” Sam asked, referring, Dean supposed, to Lowbacca and the others.

“They were all well,” Castiel answered. “Concerned for Zahra, of course, and anxious to see her again, but well. Lowbacca is packing some things and said that they’ll be ready to leave whenever Zahra is able to leave the hospital.”

“Leave?” Zahra asked. “Where would we go?”

“To my place,” Bobby said. “What, did you think we’d just leave you in the lurch? We’re gonna look after you until you find a way to leave this world.”

“Bobby…,” Zahra said her eyes bright. She rubbed quickly at her eyes and looked around at them. “Thank you,” she said. Her eyes met Dean’s last of all and he looked away quickly. Damn, he was a coward.

Bobby reached up and patted her head like she was actually his kid. Zahra smiled at him.

Then her stomach growled. She flushed even as she laughed. “Guess I’m hungry.”

“Don’t you worry,” Bobby said. “I’ll go down to the cafeteria and see if they have anything edible. Sam, you come with me. Castiel, why don’t you go back to Lowbacca and let him know how Zahra’s doing.”

“I was just there this morning,” Castiel said, tilting his head confusedly.

Dean watched as Bobby frowned at the angel and jerked his chin at Dean, glanced sideways at Zahra, then glared at Cas. “But don’t you think they’ll want to know how she’s doing after taking the bacta?” Bobby asked.

Castiel blinked. He looked at Dean. He looked at Zahra. He looked at Bobby. “Yes, I think they would.” He nodded. “I will go now. Excuse me.” He vanished in a flurry of invisible wings.

Dean rolled his eyes at everyone’s blatant attempt to get him and Zahra alone. He eyed his brother and Bobby as they strolled (or rolled, in Bobby’s case) out of the room. Sam shut the door, making sure to give Dean a pointed look, and the two were alone.

*

Zahra tried not to laugh at Bobby and Castiel’s exchange, and when they and Sam were gone, she glanced uncertainly at Dean, still slouched in the corner. Neither spoke. They just eyed each other, Zahra openly, Dean covertly. Well, he was trying to be covert, but Zahra could see his eyes dart to her face then away again just as fast. The silence stretched around them and between them until Dean apparently couldn’t take it anymore. He wasn’t a Jedi. He hadn’t been schooled since childhood in that most ancient of arts: patience.

“So, uh, you’re, uh, feeling better, huh?” he asked.

Zahra didn’t think it right to smile – not just yet – so she bit her lip and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Very much so.”

“Good! Uh, yeah, that’s… good…,” Dean finished lamely. He looked away and rubbed the back of his head.

“Dean?” she said into the silence and he jumped.

“Uh, yeah?” he asked.

“Do you hate me?” she asked.

Now he did look at her, astonished. “Hate you?” he repeated. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“It’s the only thing I could think of to explain why you left last night. Why you wouldn’t speak to me or look at me,” she said.

He closed his eyes, and looked down, shame filling his expression. “Zahra,” he said, as if her name caused him pain. “I’m not mad at you. I don’t hate you.” He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. “I’m mad at myself. I hate myself.”

“Why?” she asked.

“I shot you,” he said.

“I’m aware,” she replied with a rueful smile.

“Aren’t you angry with me?” he asked. She realized he wanted her to be angry with him. He wanted her to yell and scream at him, to cry and tell him she wished he was dead, _anything_ if only to make himself feel better about his own self-hate.

The look she gave him now was almost pitying. Her eyes softened and she looked at him in much the same way she had looked at Bobby when he’d asked about the bacta.

“Dean, did you shoot me on purpose?” she asked.

“Of course not! It was an accident!” he cried, eyes shining with emotion.

She held up a hand. “There you have it,” she said. “It was an accident. I could blame you for shooting me, I could blame Sam and Bobby for coming back, and I could blame Castiel for coming and leading the angels to us. I could blame myself for becoming distracted and not paying attention to what was happening around me, where you were, where anyone was. There’s no end to the blame that we could spread around if we wanted. It just happened; a series of events that led to me ending up here. I don’t hate you, Dean. I could never hate you.”

He stared at her. Through the Force she could sense the riot of emotions playing through him: guilt, anger, sadness, and then, finally, quiet (and reluctant) acceptance. He straightened.

Zahra held up a hand, reaching out to him, beckoning him closer. After a moment, he walked forward and took her hand. She squeezed lightly and he returned the pressure.

*

When Sam and Bobby returned, the latter carrying a cafeteria food tray, they found Dean and Zahra laughing together over a joke Dean had told. They stood, blinking dumbly, in the doorway.

“Oh, you’re back!” Zahra greeted, spying them. “Come in! Dean was just telling me about the time you got bad luck, Sam, and lost your shoe!” She laughed again as Sam shot his brother a dirty look.

“Well, I guess you two patched things up?” Bobby asked. He set the food tray on a rolling table and pushed it over to her, lowering it so she could eat comfortably.

“There was nothing to patch up,” Zahra said, “but yes.”

Bobby and Sam looked relieved.

Castiel returned as Zahra was eating her “meatloaf” with gravy, mashed potatoes, string beans and apple juice. He told them that Lowbacca was glad to hear that she was getting better and was anxious to see her. She replied in kind. She _really_ wanted to see Lowbacca again. She felt like she had made a personal breakthrough in making Dean see he wasn’t at fault in her shooting, even if he had pulled the trigger. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She could now look back at River Pass and, also, Laketown, and see that events had transpired beyond her control. She had not meant to kill or cause the deaths of anyone; they had happened. She could hate herself until Hell froze over, but it wouldn’t change the simple facts. She smiled as Sam and Dean joked and Bobby scolded and Castiel looked on with mild confusion.

After she was finished eating, Nurse Jackie came in to change her bandages. She pulled a curtain around the bed and the four men stood on the other side. “Did you have a good lunch, dear? Oh, meatloaf, huh? Well, it’s not the best, but it’s not bad. Now, my mother, she made the best meatloaf in the world. Of course, I would think that, she was my mother, but I’ve never found anyone else’s to be as good. I know I can’t make it as well as she did. Now let’s see. Oh, yes, this looks, well, this looks practically healed. You must have a hell of a healing factor, kid, this looks like we could pull the stitches out right now and your guts wouldn’t spill out! Not that we would. I’ll mention it to your doctor and he’ll take a look sometime today. If he says everything is okay, you might even get to go home tomorrow. No pain at all? What about when I do this? None? Well. You’re a strong little thing, I must say. Far too skinny, though, I can see your ribs. Mr. Singer! You make sure this girl gets plenty to eat! We don’t want to lose you to malnutrition, do we? No, ma’am. Well, there you go. Everything’s dandy now. You need anything, you give me a holler, okay? She’s all yours, folks!” She swept the curtain aside and strolled out.

“I swear, she’s gonna drive me nuts!” Bobby muttered, rolling back to Zahra’s side. Sam perched on the foot of her bed, Dean took the chair and Castiel stood behind Sam.

“She’s okay,” Zahra said.

Suddenly a commotion in the hall caught everyone’s attention. Dean and Sam went over and Zahra strained to see, cursing the fact she was bound to the bed until the doctor said otherwise.

“What is it?” she called out.

“Don’t know,” Dean said. “I’ll go see.” He left, Sam on his heels, and Zahra plopped back against her pillows with a sigh.

They waited in silence until the brothers came back. Dean looked excited and was clearly trying not to be.

“What is it?” she repeated.

“People are freaking out because someone was brought to the morgue with their liver and heart missing,” Dean said.

“And this is a good thing?” she asked.

“It’s the fourth victim,” he said.

“You thinking werewolf?” Bobby asked.

“Werewolf?” Zahra asked, completely lost.

“People who transform into vicious man-eating creatures,” Dean explained. He looked around, his eyes gleaming. “You know what this mean?”

“That this world is more screwed up than I thought?” Zahra asked.

“Besides that,” Dean said.

“What?”

Dean grinned. “We’ve got a case!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's be honest, Dean can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, and he does drink a lot. Maybe not as much as he did in this chapter, but a lot. I hope you're not too mad with me about it, though.
> 
> And yes, I am aware that there was a TV show called Nurse Jackie. And, no, my Nurse Jackie is not based off of that Nurse Jackie. I've never even seen the show. The name is purely coincidental.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos!

“Here we are,” the coroner, Dr. Mayfield, said dragging out a body. “Never seen anything like it.” He flipped back the white sheet to reveal the face of a young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties. Angry red lines dragged across his face and arms, his torso had been ripped open, then stitched back up by the good doctor. “Victim’s name is Peter Travers. His heart, his liver, both gone. And here’s where it gets really weird. They weren’t cut out. They were ripped. I saw teeth marks from some kind of animal. If I had to guess? I’d say a wild dog or maybe even a wolf. But I’ve never seen a wolf in Denver, or even heard of one coming this close to the city.”

 

Dean bent close to get a look at the body. The sterile atmosphere and chemical aroma couldn’t quite mask the smell of dead flesh. But after so many years he’d gotten used to it. Sam was busy taking notes in his notebook, pen flashing across the page. The two of them had returned to their motel room and gotten changed into suits, sticking false F.B.I. badges in their pockets. Coming back to the hospital, they’d met no resistance in getting in to see the victims. 

 

 “This is the fourth victim,” Dr. Mayfield said, blinking owlishly at them from behind his round glasses. His salt-and-pepper hair (more salt than pepper) was askew, as if he’d run his fingers through it several times. “The first night, there were two. Last night we got a third, and this one was discovered early this morning. I put the time of death sometime last night between twelve and one a.m.”

 

Which meant either the werewolf was killing two people a night, or there was more than one, Dean thought. He frowned and straightened.

 

 “Where was the victim found?” Sam asked.

 

“This one was found about a quarter mile inside Oak Haven Park,” the corner said. At their blank looks, he added, “It’s a local camping ground. The police found the kid’s things there, so he must’ve gone camping. My guess? Something startled him and he ran; the thing gave chase and took him down.” He gestured to the corpse. “Terrible, just terrible.” He shook his head and brought the sheet back up over Peter Travers’ face. He rolled the body back into the refrigeration unit and shut the door. Turning back around he asked, “Can I help you gentlemen with anything else?”

 

“Yeah,” Dean said, shucking off his latex gloves and tossing them into the trash can labeled “Hazard”. “A copy of your autopsy reports for all four victims and directions to this Oak Haven Park.”

 

*

 

“First two victims, Emily Waterston and James Macomber, were found about three miles south of Oak Haven Park,” Sam said, looking over the reports. They’d returned to their motel room and were going over everything they’d learned in the few hours they’d had on the case. “Third victim, Franklin Jefferies, was found five miles from the same park, and, of course, victim number four was found inside the park.” He looked up at Dean. “I think we found our hunting ground.”

 

Dean nodded. “And tonight’s the last night of the full moon. If we’re gonna catch this son of a bitch, it’s gotta be tonight.”

 

“Could be more than one,” Sam said.

 

Dean nodded again. “I was thinking the same thing.” He brought up the park on Google Maps. “Park’s not far. We should grab us something to eat and head out.”

 

The two did just that, hitting up a fast food joint and then driving out to the park. Once there, they grabbed their weapons and settled down inside the Impala for a long wait.

 

*

 

“You look better each time I come in here,” Nurse Jackie said.

 

Zahra smiled at her, noncommittally. Bobby gave her a pointed look and retreated back behind the curtain the nurse drew around the bed.

 

“Well let’s have a look at you,” Nurse Jackie went on, pulling back the sheet and pajama top Zahra was wearing. The bandage was peeled away and the Nurse stared in silence. Her lack of dialogue unnerved Zahra. She watched her, ready to use the Force on the woman’s mind if necessary.

 

“Huh.” The nurse glanced at Zahra, then back at the exposed wound… which was little more than a thin pink scar beneath the stitches. “Turn onto your side.” Zahra did as instructed, knowing a similar sight would face the nurse on her back.

 

More silence, heavy and tense. Zahra caught Bobby peeking around the edge of the curtain. She offered him a small smile that was meant to be reassuring. From the panic that lit his gaze, she knew she’d failed.

 

“Okay,” Nurse Jackie finally said. She replaced the bandages, a small frown on her face, making her look all the more severe. “Well, I’m just gonna speak with your doctor. I think we can remove your stitches now.”

 

“Really?” Zahra asked, with feigned innocence and surprise.

 

“Yep, don’t see any point in them staying in. You’re all healed. I just want your doctor to take a look.”

 

“Why?” Zahra asked.

 

“Procedure,” Nurse Jackie shrugged, offering a smile that was tense and contemplative and left.

 

Bobby wheeled close to Zahra’s bed. “I don’t like this,” he muttered. “Maybe you shouldn’t have taken those bacta things.”

 

Zahra shrugged. “What’s done is done. I’ll convince them everything’s normal if I have to,” she replied in a murmur.

 

Bobby grunted with a nod. “No one’s said anything about your hand,” he said, gesturing to the one she’d burned inside the Falcon. She lifted it and showed him the newly-healed, pink skin. “All healed?” he asked, in slight amazement.

 

“Bacta is a wonder,” was all she said.

 

A buzzing noise came from his pocket just then. He pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open, eyes scanning the screen.

 

“Text from Sam,” he murmured. “They’re staking out the place where they think the werewolf is hunting. He says there may or may not be two. He’ll let us know what happens.” Bobby closed the phone, putting it away, barely disguising the sigh that slipped past his lips. He looked old, sitting there, his skin bearing a grayish cast.

 

“Bobby,” she said and waited for him to look at her. “What’s bothering you?”

 

“Huh? Nothing. I’m just tired is all,” he replied shrugging.

 

“I can see that you are tired. But there’s something more,” she said.

 

He clamped his mouth shut and refused to look at her.

 

“You don’t have to tell me,” she assured him. “But I’m here if you want to talk. Just say the word and I’m all ears.”

 

He glanced at her, eyes bright. “Thanks,” he whispered. He patted her hand.

 

“But you are tired,” she went on. “After the doctor comes to see me, you should contact Castiel and have him take you back to the motel or back to your house. Sam and Dean can take over things here.”

 

With his free hand, Bobby wiped his face, as if he could remove the exhaustion with just a single swipe. He didn’t, of course. He sighed and nodded. “I just might do that,” he said.

 

Zahra smiled kindly at him, glad that he would get some much needed rest soon.

 

*

 

The doctor came in due time and from the looks on his and Nurse Jackie’s face, Zahra could see that they were confused by the fact that she’d healed so fast. Though she hated to do it, she used the Force to convince them everything was normal. The stitches were removed, and she was bandaged again. (Really she’d healed far too quickly, she knew. The stitches should have been removed before, but she hadn’t wanted to draw too much attention to herself than she already had.)

 

“I’d like to keep you over night just to make sure everything’s really all right with you,” the doctor said. “But you’ll be able to go home tomorrow.”

 

“Thank you,” Zahra told him. Bobby also thanked him and the doctor left.

 

“Who’ll be checking you out tomorrow?” Nurse Jackie asked.

 

“Either my brothers or my cousin,” Zahra said, remembering the lie that Sam had told her. She hated lying, _hated_ it, but it was necessary in these circumstances.

 

“Not you, Mr. Singer?” Nurse Jackie crooked an eyebrow at him in disapproval, as if she could not fathom a father not being there to pick up his own child from the hospital.

 

“My father has overexerted himself,” Zahra said, coming to his defense. “He’s only been out of the hospital himself for a few weeks. He needs to head home and get some rest.”

 

“Hmm,” Nurse Jackie hummed, pursing her lips. But she said no more on the matter and told Zahra to push the call button if she needed anything and left.

 

Bobby smiled at her. “Thanks,” he said.

 

“Don’t mention it,” she replied. “Now call Castiel.”

 

Bobby’s smile grew. “Yes, ma’am,” he said and did as he was told.

 

*

 

“Man, this is getting old,” Dean muttered.

 

“It’s almost eleven,” Sam said. “According to the coroner’s reports for Emily Waterston and Franklin Jeffries, they were killed between eleven and twelve at night. So, we should be seeing some activity soon.”

 

“I hope so,” Dean replied. No sooner had the words left his mouth, than movement to the right caught his eye. “Whoa, check it out.” He hunched down behind the wheel of the Impala and Sam did likewise in his own seat.

 

A young man was walking through the park, along a small dirt path. Perhaps he wouldn’t have looked out of place if he’d had a backpack or some other form of camping gear, but he didn’t. He wore faded jeans, a white tee-shirt and beat up Nike’s. His head was lifted, and he appeared to be sniffing the air.

 

“I think we have a winner,” Dean said quietly, pulling his gun out and checking to make sure it was full of silver bullets.

 

“How do you want to do this?” Sam asked.

 

“Simple. We sneak up on him, make sure he shows signs of being a werewolf and gank the bastard,” Dean said. As soon as the young man was out of sight, the two exited the car. Keeping off the path, they moved quietly after the man, guns ready and eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

 

After about twenty minutes, Dean was getting irritated again. He was about to suggest they split up and cover more ground when a scream pierced the night. Instantly, the two brothers took off in a sprint in the direction the scream had come from. Sam, with his longer legs, quickly overtook Dean.

 

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Dean put on a burst of speed. He wanted to be the one to kill the SOB! He needed it! Again, there was that unhealthy mindset, but so what? He’d wanted a case, he’d gotten one, and he wanted to kill the monster.

 

Another scream, long and protracted. It ended abruptly and Dean felt urgency beat through him, spurring him on faster. 

 

He burst into a small clearing, right at Sam’s heels. He took one look around, saw the young man bent over the body of a fallen woman, her eyes wide and unseeing, blood covering her torso, and brought his gun up.

 

“Hey, asshole!” he shouted.

 

The werewolf, for there was no longer any doubt, whirled around still crouched. Blood covered his jaw and something meaty hung from his pointed teeth. It fell to the ground when he opened his mouth and growled. Jerking to his feet, he roared and launched himself at them.

 

“I don’t think so, dick,” Dean spat and fired. The bullet slammed into the werewolf’s chest. He staggered but didn’t fall. Dean fired again, and again, and again, until the werewolf was flat on his back, unmoving. Dean walked over and fired another shot into his head just to be sure. He didn’t smile, though grim satisfaction filled him. He looked up and saw Sam kneeling over the woman’s body. “She dead?”

 

Sam nodded and sighed. “Yeah.”

 

Dean closed his eyes. They’d been too late. He cursed quietly to himself then pulled out his phone to call the police. They couldn’t stay, but he’d tell them he’d been walking by and heard gunshots. An anonymous tip was best.

 

Something cracked behind him.

 

“Dean, look out!” Sam shouted. Dean turned and was thrown onto his back. He looked up to see another werewolf standing over him, a female. Her long dark hair dangled around her face as she lifted her clawed hands to slash his chest. The blow never fell.

 

Silver bullets slammed into her head, neck and chest. Blood sprayed Dean and he closed his eyes and mouth. When he opened them, the werewolf was folded over him, dead. He shoved her off and Sam rushed to his side, helping him up.

 

“Fucking knew there were two,” Dean said, wiping his hands over his face. They came away red.

 

“Let’s call it in and get the hell out of here,” Sam said.

 

“Couldn’t agree more,” Dean said.

 

*

 

Zahra sighed and rolled onto her side. In the dark of her room, with only pale moonlight filtering through the window, everything seemed to be held in stark relief. Not just the room itself, but also her own thoughts. She was worried about Bobby. When Castiel had arrived, the older man had asked him to take him to his motel room so he could collect his things, and then to his house. Castiel had agreed, telling Zahra he would return later to spend the night with her, just in case someone (Zachariah, for instance) tried to come for her. She’d nodded, her eyes on Bobby’s weary face and bid them good-bye. Alone, she’d ordered some food through Nurse Jackie and eaten her dinner in silence.

 

When the solitude had threatened to overwhelm her, she’d turned to sleep as a reprieve… but thoughts of her dreams had invaded her mind, and here she was unable to rest. Something was wrong with Bobby. He was tired, yes, still recovering from his own injuries, but there was something else, something that ran deeper than the physical. Well she knew such wounds. She was only herself recovering from the guilt of Laketown and River Pass. Her feelings had not completely reversed, but they were better after her conversation with Dean. Bobby’s problems weren’t quite the same as hers, but emotional wounds ran deep in everyone, and she knew he was greatly troubled. Perhaps she could help him, perhaps not. Only time would tell.  

 

Zahra rolled onto her back again and heaved another sigh. Surely, Castiel had returned Bobby to his house by now? So where was he? She reached out to the Force, eager for some sign of his approach, but there was nothing, only a gentle calm and sense of peace that the Force brought her. Her questions were still unanswered, as they had been when she’d arrived on this planet.

 

“Master,” she whispered. “Are you…?” She stopped herself. She pushed back at the doubt that threatened to overcome her thoughts, and closed her eyes. Sleep was a distant dream. Meditation would help.

 

A flutter of wings several minutes later pulled her back to the present and she turned her head. Castiel crossed to the empty chair and seated himself.

 

“I was beginning to give you up,” she whispered.

 

“Forgive me,” he replied. “I was delayed.”

 

She expected him to explain further, but he didn’t. “By?”

 

“Bobby,” he said. “And Sam and Dean.”

 

“Are they okay?”

 

“They are fine,” he said. “Sam said to tell you that they will come tomorrow to get you.”

 

She nodded. “Good,” she said. She watched the angel for a long minute. There was more he was not telling her. She decided that it wasn’t her business and closed her eyes again. This time, sleep came swiftly.

 

*

 

Lowbacca sighed as he looked around at the Millennium Falcon. The ship had been a fine companion for so many years, to so many people and species, that to see it reduced to a blackened and twisted mass was heartbreaking. But there was no way he could fix this. Even if he had the materials, he didn’t think he could fix it. Artoo had beeped desolately every time they went through it. Threepio had uttered his “Oh dear, Oh dear’s” every few seconds. Lowie couldn’t even imagine what Zahra had thought and felt when she went through it the morning after it had been destroyed. He knew she probably shared in his own thoughts, the things he and the droids had discussed for the past several days: they would likely never see their home galaxy again. Never feel the Force sing through the bonds they shared with their Jedi brethren. Never sail the stars between missions. Never find Master Danai.

 

That last was probably the biggest blow for the younger Jedi. All this, everything that they had been through, all had been done with that single goal in mind: find Master Danai and save her from whatever horrors she faced. To see that goal reduced to ashes in a single moment had to be hard for Zahra. It was hard for Lowie.

 

He shook his head and looked at the few things he had packed. They could not stay with the ship, so Bobby Singer had told him (through the mediation of Sam and Dean Winchester) that the Jedi and droids were welcome at his house. It was some distance away, true, but they needed shelter. They no longer had that with the ship as it was.

 

He’d gathered Zahra’s pack and filled it with several changes of clothes, though he wondered at the practicality of the Jedi clothing after seeing the way the other humans had been dressed. He’d also found her lightsaber and added that to the pack as well. The rest was as she’d left it. His own pack was filled with various things that meant nothing to anyone but him. He had filled a container with medical supplies, including the rest of the bacta pills. There weren’t many. He had put the bacta tank and other things that Zahra had removed from the ship for his aide back into the cargo hold. Now, all that remained to do was to wait for Castiel, the angel, to arrive and take Lowie and the droids to Bobby’s. Sam and Dean Winchester had said they would take Zahra to Bobby’s house themselves.

 

After checking to make sure that everything was secure on the ship and with their supplies, Lowie lowered himself to the ground. To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t sure he trusted Sam and Dean Winchester completely. Actually, all four men seemed to be hiding something. He’d sensed it upon their first meeting, and when he had emerged from the bacta tank, he had sensed it then as well. He didn’t doubt Zahra had her misgivings, but she was either pushing them aside for the sake of safety, or ignoring them altogether. He knew her too well to think it was the latter, so it must be the former. Lowie trusted in her and in the Force, and everything in him was telling him to wait, to be patient. He knew that was the wisest course of action, and he would follow it… but he was here and Zahra was in a hospital because one of those men had been careless.

 

Oh, he did not blame Dean Winchester, not really. Non-Force users could hardly be held accountable for injuries to a Jedi, especially when they had no experience in combat with them. But that rationale had done nothing to diminish the surge of anger that had washed over Lowbacca when he’d watched Zahra fall to the ground, blood pumping from her side. His Wookiee rage had almost eclipsed his Jedi sensibilities and it had taken every ounce of restraint Lowie had possessed not to rip the human’s head from his shoulders. The human had clearly sensed the near danger, for he had shrunk away from Lowie in fear.

 

The only things that had prevented Lowie from killing Dean Winchester then and there was his Jedi training, the shock of the angel Zachariah, and the quick actions of the angel, Castiel. What he had sensed from Castiel when the angel had touched Zahra’s wound had stunned the Wookiee into non-action. The Force had filled the clearing, bright and strong and clear. White light had radiated from Castiel’s palm, delving into Zahra’s wound. He had not completely healed her, but it had been enough to pull her from the brink of death. And then they’d gone, Zahra, Castiel and Bobby.

 

Everything after had been a haze, as if Lowie was moving on autopilot. He credited only the Force in his ability to keep even the smallest rational thought in his mind. When the offer to be taken to Bobby’s house after Zahra was released from the hospital had been extended, he had accepted straight away. How else would he learn the secrets each of the four men kept hidden? How else would he make sure Zahra was safe? How else would he accept the fact that they had no way to leave if not by distracting himself with these things?

 

For there was no way off this planet without the ship and the ship was a broken husk.

 

Lowbacca shook his head again. His thoughts had turned around on themselves, moving in circles. A clear sign of worry and fatigue. He’d stretched himself thin these last few days, too thin. He needed to be strong, for himself and for Zahra. Once the full weight of their situation hit her (if it hadn’t already) he needed to lend her his strength in the emotional upheaval that would surely follow. It was all that he could do.

 

What a waste of a Jedi he was.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter than the previous one, but I felt this was the right place to stop it.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zahra finally leaves the hospital and begins to question some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support guys! Leave a comment if you want telling me what you think so far!

Her clothes had been washed. That was the extent of the service the hospital had provided. They were still bloodstained, as were her boots and belt. Zahra gazed forlornly down at the Elven garments. They’d been so fine once, but now they were stained, shrunken and misshapen. Nurse Jackie, when she’d brought the bag of Zahra’s things into her room that morning, had tutted with a shake of her head.

 

“I don’t know what your clothes are made of, kiddo, but they didn’t fare well in the wash. Sorry about that. You should ask your brothers to bring you some new ones,” Nurse Jackie had said.

 

“No, it’s fine,” Zahra replied, wanting the Nurse to leave so she could get dressed.

 

“Need any help?”

 

“No, I can do it myself. Thank you.”

 

Nurse Jackie nodded and swept out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

 

Now, alone, Zahra fingered one of the sleeves. They had been a memento of her time in Middle-Earth, of the quest she’d taken, of the dangers she’d faced and ultimately triumphed over. To see them in such a sad state (they were just clothes for Forces’ sake!) left a bitter taste in her mouth. Shaking off the last of her melancholy, she stripped off the pajamas she’d worn in the hospital and pulled on her undergarments and the Elven clothes. As the pants and tunic were slipped on, however, they changed. The molded to her form, fitting perfectly, no longer misshapen and shrunk. Zahra marveled at the extraordinary fabric; whatever the Elves used to make their clothes made them elastic too. Zahra smiled to herself. Finally, one good thing after so much bad.

 

She pulled on her socks and boots and snapped on her belt. She looked down at herself and nodded. She was ready to get out of the hospital. The people were nice, in their way, but the sterile atmosphere had her on edge, and the food left a little (or, well, a lot) to be desired.

 

She didn’t know when Sam and Dean would be arriving, but decided to wait it out. She sat on the edge of the chair Castiel had occupied the night before and waited.

 

Castiel had left shortly before Nurse Jackie had brought her clothes, with the excuse that he would tell Sam and Dean she was ready to leave. He had kept a keen eye on the doctor as he had examined her scars, but nothing more was said about them. The mind-trick Zahra had used the day before had left no doubt in the doctor’s mind that everything was fine and she was a healthy young woman. He’d said she could leave now once her family came to get her.

 

Castiel was acting strange. There wasn’t anything too obvious, but Zahra could sense he was hiding something, holding back in every conversation they had together. She wondered what it could be….?

 

“Not my business,” she said to herself.

 

“What’s not your business?” a voice said at the door.

 

Zahra, so tuned to her own thoughts, had dropped her guard. She jerked to her feet and spun to face the intruder, ready to attack if the need arose, then, seeing who it was, she relaxed.

 

“Sam,” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “I’m so glad to see you.”

 

His own smile was broad. “Ready to get out of here?” he asked.

 

“Definitely.” And she meant it. 

 

*

 

The wheelchair was a necessity she was told. Zahra slumped into it, waiting for Sam as he signed her out. The orderly who had brought the wheelchair stood behind her, arms folded, clearly wanting to get back to his regular duties.

 

Sam walked over, Nurse Jackie at his heels. She smiled down at Zahra. “Be safe, young lady, and no more knives. Far too dangerous. I’d hate to see you back here so soon,” she chided.

 

Zahra smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.” Lightsabers were much more dangerous anyway, she added in her thoughts.

 

The orderly pushed the wheelchair and Sam walked along beside her. He kept up an inane cheerful flow of chatter that Zahra only partially listened to. She could tell most of what he was saying was made up on the spot. She didn’t remember ever falling from a tree in Bobby’s yard and bruising her knee.

 

Outside, Dean was waiting next to his land-speeder. Zahra was surprised at the wave of relief that washed over her at the sight. She was finally out of the hospital and felt healthier than ever, and seeing Dean and his land speeder somehow made it all the more real. She released a breath as any last traces of anxiety left her.

 

The orderly stopped the wheelchair and Sam helped her stand. “Thank you,” she said to the orderly. He nodded and turned, pushing the wheelchair back into the hospital and was soon lost to sight.

 

“How do you feel?” Sam asked as he led her to the land-speeder. Dean stood ready, the door to the back seat open.

 

“Healthy as a bantha,” she replied. She slipped into the backseat and sighed as she sank against the well worn seats.

 

Sam and Dean got into the front seats of the Impala and Dean revved the engine. They peeled out of the hospital’s parking lot, all three happy to leave it behind.

 

“It’ll take us a day or so to get to Bobby’s if we only stop once to sleep and get an early start. We’ll hit drive-throughs for food and gas stations for restroom breaks, but I’d like to make the trip as short as possible,” Dean said.

 

“How is Bobby?” Zahra asked.

 

“I spoke to him on the phone earlier,” Dean said. “He sounds much better, less tired.”

 

“Poor Bobby,” Sam said. “All this has been a bit much for him. He’s only been out of the hospital himself a few weeks.”

 

“He’s stronger than you think,” Zahra said. “Anyway, how did your case go? Did you catch the, er, werewolf?” The name felt foreign on her tongue, even after Bobby had told her about what he and the Winchesters did for a living: hunting monsters that most people thought were myth or legend. The creatures he’d named (werewolf, vampire, shifter, wendigo, to name a few) Zahra had never heard of. But then, she’d already dealt with angels, demons and War himself; the rest seemed almost like child’s play.

 

Dean laughed darkly. “Oh, you bet! We caught the suckers! There were two of them! They went down like a couple of -- !”

 

“Dean,” Sam said cutting his brother off mid-sentence with a warning note to his voice.

 

Dean glanced at him and glared. He turned his gaze back to the road, muttering incoherently under his breath.

 

“You don’t have to censor yourselves on my account,” Zahra said, amused. “But I am glad you caught the, uh, werewolves.”

 

“Still not used to saying it?” Dean asked.

 

“I’ll get there.” Then she yawned widely, and lifted a hand to cover her gaping mouth. She saw Dean glance at her in the mirror that hung from the front window between his and Sam’s seats.

 

“Sleepy?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know why,” she said.

 

“Why don’t you take a little nap,” Sam suggested glancing into the back seat. “Use Dean’s jacket to cover up if you need to.”

 

Zahra glanced to her left. Sure enough, Dean’s blue jacket was crumpled beside her. “Think I will,” she said. “You don’t mind Dean?”

 

“No, go ahead. We won’t be stopping for a while yet. We’ll wake you if we get some food,” Dean said, using the mirror again to look back at her.

 

“Okay,” Zahra said. She hunched down in her seat, leaning partially against the door. She pulled Dean’s jacket around her upper body and slowly drifted into sleep, Dean’s scent hovering around her.

 

*

 

Lowbacca looked up when Castiel appeared. He’d felt his approach through the Force, like a great beacon, so he wasn’t surprised when the angel appeared in the clearing. The angel looked around, his face expressionless, before finally turning his bright blue gaze to Lowbacca.

 

“Sam and Dean have picked up Zahra from the hospital. They are on their way to Bobby’s house in South Dakota,” the angel told him. “If you are ready, I will begin to move you, the droids and your things to Bobby’s house.”

 

“What about the wolves?” Lowbacca asked. He gestured to the pack huddled together by Artoo, as Threepio translated. The creatures had had a terrible fright when Zahra had been shot. It seemed Zahra had, unwittingly perhaps, kept her Force connection open to them during the battle and they had known when she’d been shot. Instead of leaving as she had told them, they had come back after things had calmed down. Lowie knew that Zahra would want them to come with her to Bobby’s, even if the other humans did not like the idea themselves. She was bonded to them now, and such bonds were not taken lightly among Jedi.

 

Castiel looked at them. Then at Lowbacca. Then back to the wolves. He was clearly hesitant. He looked at Lowbacca. “I will go ask Bobby and come back.” He disappeared.

 

Lowie sighed.

 

Several minutes later, Castiel returned. “Bobby said they can come.”

 

They looked at each other for a long moment. In the distance, a bird called.

 

“All right then,” Lowie finally said. To the droids he said, “Prepare to depart.”

 

“But how will we get there?” Threepio asked nervously.

 

“I will take you,” Castiel explained. “I’ll fly you there.”

 

Artoo whistled appreciatively. Castiel nodded to him. Then, he strode to the pack and looked down at them.

 

“I think, picking them up will help,” Lowie said. Threepio translated.

 

Castiel glanced over his shoulder at him. “Yes,” he said.

 

He crouched down and picked up Bilbo. The puppy whined and twisted out of his grasp. Dori, his mother, growled low in her throat.

 

Lowie reached out to the Force, touching the minds of the wolves. He sent them a wave of reassurance and their hackles dropped. When Castiel picked the puppy up again, Bilbo did not squirm or whine, he merely stuck his toes out straight and held perfectly still. Castiel gathered the other two puppies and put a hand on Dori’s head. Then they disappeared.

 

Lowbacca sat on the container of medical supplies. This was going to be a long day.

 

*

 

Dean pulled into the parking lot of a small road-side diner and glanced over his shoulder at Zahra. Sam was texting Bobby their progress and about to head inside to get their food. Given the fact that Zahra was dressed so outlandishly (and covered in bloodstains) it had been decided that they would forego eating in, in favor of eating out.

 

“Hey, kid,” Dean said. “Zahra!”

 

“Hmm?” she mumbled, opening tired eyes. She blinked at him in confusion then looked around, noticing that they were stopped. She sat up, Dean’s jacket sliding down to her lap. “Where are we?”

 

“You hungry?” he asked, watching as she rubbed her eyes.

 

“Yeah,” she said.

 

“Sam’s gonna run in and get us something to eat. What do you want?”

 

“Uh…,” she frowned, thinking. “When I was with Ellen and Jo I had something called a double cheeseburger. It was good. Would they have that here?”

 

Dean grinned. “I think so. Hear that, Sammy? She wants a double cheeseburger. Get her some fries and a chocolate milkshake too.”

 

Sam rolled his eyes and opened his door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”He left them, heading into the diner and out of sight.

 

“How long was I asleep?” Zahra asked Dean.

 

He shrugged. “Couple hours. Why?”

 

“Just wondering.”

 

Something in her tone caught Dean’s attention. He twisted to look back at her. She was frowning, concern and worry etched into her face.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

 

She looked at him and paused, seeming to weigh her words. “Just a strange dream is all.”

 

Now Dean frowned. She was being evasive. Clearly whatever was on her mind had worried her.

 

“You know, you can trust me right? And Sam and Bobby and Cas. Whatever’s on your mind, whatever’s bothering you, you can tell us.” _You can tell me,_ was what he really meant.

 

“I know,” she said, but there was a small hesitance before she spoke, so small that he almost didn’t notice it. He knew then, that she was holding herself back. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him but it did.

 

“I mean it,” he said. “You can trust us.”

 

“I know that, Dean,” she replied with more feeling this time. She looked him in the eye, her own gaze clear and unwavering. “But it may take me a bit to really believe it.”

 

He appreciated her candor, even as it irritated him. “Why can’t you believe it?”

 

“Because I know when I’m being lied to.”

 

Dean could not hide his surprise. “What? We’re not lying to you. We’ve never lied to you.”

 

“You haven’t told me the whole truth either.” Zahra’s gaze was calm, her tone even. It unnerved him.

 

“Why do you say that?” he asked.

 

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “I’m a Jedi.” She said it like it should explain everything. And unfortunately it did.

 

“I’m not really sure what that means.”

 

“Lie,” Zahra said flatly. “Dean, you ask me to trust you, your brother, your friends. How can I when you’re hiding so much from me? I have told you everything about my journey to this world, and you do not extend the same courtesy? Oh, you’ve told me the big things about Lucifer, the Apocalypse, your and Sam’s roles in it, but what are you hiding from me? What do you hold back?” She leaned forward. Dean stared at her. “Do you think I do not feel the unease that trickles through all of you when I mention certain things, do certain things? The Force tells me much, and the living Force that beats within you gives you away. What aren’t you telling me?”

 

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, robotically.

 

He felt ashamed when he saw disappointment come to life in her eyes; knowing it was directed solely at him didn’t help. “Lie.” The word left her mouth on a breath but it slammed into Dean like a fist to the gut. He gulped. “I like you, Dean Winchester,” she said. “But trust?” She shook her head. “How can I knowing this?” She leaned back into her seat, pushing his jacket from her lap into the seat next to her. The gesture almost broke him down. He was ready to tell her everything, about Star Wars, the Hobbit, everything – but was spared from doing so by Sam’s return.

 

Sam slid into his seat and sighed. “Well, that was fast,” he said. “Not a huge crowd in there.” When neither Dean nor Zahra responded, Sam looked around at them, finally noticing the tense atmosphere. “What happened?” he asked cautiously.

 

“Nothing,” Dean and Zahra said as one.

 

“Hand over the food. I’m starving,” Dean said as he started the car back up. Sam passed out the food, and the car was filled with the sound of munching shortly after. Dean pushed the cassette of AC/DC back into the player and rock music trickled from the speakers. He turned it up, hoping the sound of the music would drown out the sound of his thoughts.

 

It didn’t.

 

*

 

Zahra was not a prude, but she was modest. And standing in the motel room with Sam and Dean and realizing there were only two beds put her slightly off kilter. She looked around the motel room taking in the dark décor, the small table and chairs, the screen of the “television” the door that led to the bathroom, and, lastly, the two beds. Two. Beds. The sight made her blush. She wasn’t sure why. She’d slept on the ground comfortably with the dwarves and Bilbo, curled up alternately against Filí or Kilí or Bilbo. She hadn’t been shy about using them for warmth during the colder nights. But the sight of those two beds had her feeling all kinds of nervous. She shook her head at herself. _You’re being ridiculous,_ she thought and turned to face the two men directly.

 

“You know, I could have gotten my own room,” she said.

 

“With what money?” Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

 

“Point taken,” she said. She gestured to the beds. “How are we doing this, then? Who’s sharing the bed with me?”

 

Both brothers looked taken aback. They exchanged a startled look then focused on the beds then looked back at her.

 

“Uh,” Sam said, heat rising in his face.

 

Dean mumbled something under his breath and pulled out a leather billfold and looked inside. He grumbled something else and then seemed to pause to think.

 

“Sam, you take one, Zahra the other. I’ll stay up and keep an eye out just in case someone decides to pay us a visit,” Dean said.

 

“Like Zachariah?” Zahra asked, the mere mention of the angels name turning her stomach.

 

Dean nodded at her. “I’ll trade off with Sam at some point and get some sleep. Then we’ll head out in the morning soon as we can.”

 

Zahra frowned. “Then I’d be the only one getting a good night’s sleep. That doesn’t seem fair.”

 

“Zahra, you just got out of the hospital,” Sam said.

 

“But I’m fine. The medicine they gave me and the bacta has healed me perfectly. I told you, I’m as healthy as a bantha. I don’t need as much sleep as you two do. I could meditate and be fine,” she said. It was true. When on missions, Jedi (including Zahra and her master) learned to meditate to replenish their strength and wash away fatigue. They did this when sleep was too dangerous. Meditation kept them alert as well as rested.

 

Dean frowned. “I don’t know,” he said. “I think my idea sounds better.”

 

“Dean, I’m a Jedi. I know you don’t know what that means,” – here the two brothers exchanged a quick look before turning away from each other – “but what it means is that I’ve gone days without sleep, only meditation and I’m still here.” She pretended like she hadn’t seen the glance.

 

She wasn’t entirely sure asking him had been the right thing to do in the first place, and now wished she had not confronted him about his deception, for that was what it felt like: deception. She’d thought she could look past it all, past the wary or furtive looks, past the feelings she’d sensed from them that all boiled down to one fact: they weren’t at all surprised by the things she’d told them or the things she’d done. She’d known this, sensed it, from their first official meeting in the clearing. But, if she was being honest, she’d also sensed it in River Pass, when she had seen the astonished looks on their faces after she’d defeated War. Rather than facing it, whatever it was, she’d run away. Perhaps that had been a mistake, she thought now. Perhaps she should have stayed, confronted them then, and gotten everything out in the open. Being with them now, knowing they were keeping things from her, was not pleasant.

 

The only reason, she knew, that she had chosen that afternoon to say anything was because of the cryptic dream she’d had.

 

_She’d opened her eyes to find herself standing in a room filled with chaos. Disorder seemed to be the occupant’s main focus. Papers covered nearly every available surface; books were stacked haphazardly around the room. A couch was covered in blankets and pillows and a computer sat on a desk by one wall. As she stood there, looking around in confusion, the blankets on the couch began to move. She watched as a man sat up, his dark hair sticking up everywhere, his unshaven chin opened wide in a yawn, his eyes squinting shut.  When he opened them he looked directly at Zahra._

 

_“Oh, you’re here!” he exclaimed. He threw back the blanket and stood. He was dressed in gray drawstring pants, a faded blue shirt and a loose fitting bathrobe. His feet were bare. “Well, let me look at you!” He looked her up and down, nodding to himself. “Yep! Just what I thought. Or knew, I guess. Pretty as a picture!” He smiled at her._

 

_“Um… thank you?” she said._

 

_“Oh, don’t mention it!” he waved off the thanks with another grin._

 

_“Who are you?” Zahra asked. “An angel?”_

 

_“Well, it doesn’t matter,” he said, with another wave of his hand._

 

_Zahra shrugged. “I guess not,” she agreed, then wondered why she did._

 

_He smiled at her. “Look, I know all about your troubles, and I know you’re with the Winchesters.”_

 

_“How?”_

 

_“I’m me,” he said with a shrug. “Listen, Zahra, let me tell you something. They’re keeping something from you. Several somethings. You know?”_

 

_“Yes, I know,” she said. “Wait, you know my name?”_

 

_“Again, I’m me,” he said, placing a hand on his chest, and smiling arrogantly. “And you’re you, and Sam and Dean are Sam and Dean, and you need to know what they know. So ask.”_

 

_She blinked at him. “You know, you’re not making much sense, right?”_

 

_“Yep,” he said with a smile. Actually, he’d never stopped smiling. His eyes were alight with amusement and he was watching her with eagerness. It was rather unnerving, but Zahra didn’t feel scared of him. If anything, she felt totally at ease. There was just something about his presence that was… soothing._

 

_He looked around suddenly. “Look, I need to let you go now. Someone’s coming to check on me. Remember what I said. Ask Dean!”_

 

_“Wait!” she’d shouted, not ready to go._

 

_But then she’d woken up._

 

Asking had done little good. If anything, it had put Dean more on his guard. And the strange man from her dream had left her with even more unanswered questions. Who was he? How had he known her name? What was his relationship to the Winchesters? And who had been coming to check on him? And, perhaps more importantly, why had she listened to him?

 

“Zahra?”

 

“Huh?” she asked, blinking up at Sam. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

 

“Yeah, I was just saying I’ll take the bed near the door, you can have the other,” he said, looking amused and a little concerned by her lack of attention. “You okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “My mind was just wandering, is all.”

 

“Okay,” he said. “I’m going to run out and get you some new clothes.”

 

“What, why?” she asked.

 

“Have you looked at yourself, lately?” Dean asked, plopping into one of the chairs by the table. He pulled a bottle out of the cooler he’d dragged in with his bag and twisted off the top as he continued. “You look like crap.”

 

She glanced down at her bloodstained clothes and grimaced. “Oh, right.”

 

“I’ll just buy you something to sleep in and something to wear tomorrow,” Sam said. “We can do more shopping once we get to Bobby’s.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Sam ran his eyes over her in a critical way, then scratched his head. “I’m not used to buying clothes for teenage girls, so I’ll just guess at your sizes. Is that okay?”

 

She smiled reassuringly at him. “I’m sure whatever you find will be perfect, Sam,” she said.

 

He blushed. Dean snorted. Sam shot his brother a glare then left.

 

Alone with the elder Winchester, Zahra sat on the edge of the bed that had been designated hers and looked at him. She didn’t say anything, just watched, hoping to make him uncomfortable. When he glanced at her and found her watching him, he squirmed. Zahra smiled.

 

Dean glared. “What?” he snapped.

 

She shrugged. “Nothing,” she said innocently and continued to watch him.

 

He shifted in his seat again, took a swig of whatever it was he was drinking and set it on the table. He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “Why do you keep staring at me?” he asked, facing her again.

 

She shrugged again. “Nothing else to look at.”

 

His cheeks pinked. “Am I that pretty?” he asked with a smile, clearly trying to make her as uncomfortable as he was.

 

But Zahra didn’t fall for the bait. “Yes,” she said.

 

His eyes widened and he gaped at her for a long minute. Then he laughed, waving his bottle at her. “Ah, I get it. You’re teasing me again.”

 

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

 

His smile faded a little. “You _are_ teasing me,” he said. He shook his head. “Stop it.”

 

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” she asked. “Not knowing what I’m thinking when I’m looking at you?”

 

“Yes,” he said honestly.

 

She nodded. “Now you know how I feel.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“You’re a smart man, Dean. What do you think it means?”

 

He clamped his mouth shut and looked at her. He stared at her long and hard, and she stared back evenly. He looked away first. To her that was the sign of a guilty conscience.

 

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Neither of them did. Zahra knew she’d made her point.

 

*

 

Sam’s return that evening brought to heel some of the tension between Zahra and Dean. Sam handed her some bags and she went through them. Clothes for sleeping and day wear, as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste and other essentials. She was grateful for everything, even if the shirt he’d gotten her was two sizes too big and the pants were too long. The sleepwear was simple: a pair of gray sweatpants and a baggy black tee-shirt.

 

“Will they do okay?” he asked.

 

She smiled at him. “They’ll do perfectly, Sam,” she assured him.

 

Dean made a noise like a scoff and a laugh in one, earning looks from both Zahra and his brother. He shrugged and took a swig from his bottle. It was his second, and Zahra knew now that it was alcohol of some kind. She could smell it even from her bed.

 

Sam had also brought back dinner: more “fast-food” as the Winchester’s called it. Zahra wondered how food could be fast, but didn’t comment on it. It was delicious, in any case.

 

She brushed her teeth afterwards and changed in the bathroom into the sweatpants and baggy shirt. When she exited the bathroom she narrowed her eyes in suspicion as Sam and Dean immediately stopped talking.

 

Dean stood up. “I’m next,” he said and strode past her into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.

 

Zahra rounded on Sam. “What were you two talking about?” she asked.

 

“Huh? Uh, nothing. Nothing at all,” Sam said, bending over his bag and rifling through it.

 

“Sam,” she said. “Tell me.” She stood beside him, staring at the side of his face in a bid to intimidate him into speaking.

 

When he straightened, he towered over her. “We weren’t talking about anything important,” he said.

 

She looked at him speculatively. “Hmm.”

 

Sam was a lost cause, she decided. He wouldn’t tell her anything about what they were hiding. While she’d been changing, Dean had obviously used the opportunity to fill Sam in on her earlier questions. Her and Dean’s interactions since that afternoon probably made much more sense to Sam now.

 

She wondered what to do. Should she pursue the issue? If so, with who? If she didn’t, if she decided to stay quiet, would the truth come out naturally? That man from her dream, the one who had told her to ask, what had he intended to happen? What did he want her to do, since asking had failed?

 

Frustrated, Zahra pulled back the covers on her bed and slipped into them, rolling onto her side, so her back was to Sam. She had a good view of the bathroom, though, so she saw Dean exit a few minutes later. He sat at the table again, and pulled Sam’s laptop toward him.

 

“What are you doing?” Sam asked before he went into the bathroom.

 

“Just looking to see if there are any cases,” Dean said.

 

“Seriously? Dean, we’re going to Bobby’s; we’ll be there tomorrow,” Sam said. “We don’t have time for a case.”

 

“We will after,” was Dean’s gruff reply.

 

Sam didn’t bother to answer. He just shook his head and went into the bathroom.

 

Zahra propped herself up on one elbow and looked at Dean. “I admire your dedication to your cause, Dean,” she said. “But you won’t stick around? You’ll drop me off at Bobby’s and then leave?”

 

“In case you’ve forgotten, kid, the world is ending. Sam and I are a bit preoccupied most of the time, trying to stop our world from becoming a flaming hell pit or whatever. We can’t just set that on the back burner and say we’ll get to it some other time. We’ve got to face it head on and take out Lucifer and his demonic minions,” Dean said, then he glanced over. “It’s not like you’ll never see us again. We come by Bobby’s pretty often. He’s been in the business a long time and he knows a lot more than we do. When we need his help we’ll stop by. No need to get so upset about it.”

 

She sat up fully. “You think that’s why I’m upset?” she asked. “That I’ll miss you? Well, I mean, I will, but that’s not the whole of it.”

 

“Then what is?” he asked, sitting back in his chair and giving her his full attention.

 

“You know what the deal is, Dean. You just won’t admit it.”

 

He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “We’re not keeping anything from you.”

 

“Lie. Again, another lie. You think I can’t tell? When will you just tell me what it is you’re keeping from me? I’m a big girl and a Jedi. I can take whatever you tell me.”

 

The bathroom door opened and Sam stepped out. He’d clearly heard them. “Dean, maybe we should –.”

 

“No, Sam.”

 

“But, Dean –.”

 

“ _No_ , Sam.”Dean looked up at him. “No.”

 

“So you are keeping something from me,” Zahra said.

 

“Go to bed, both of you,” Dean said, turning back to his computer, effectively ending the discussion. 

 

There was a heavy pause, and then Sam went to his bed and slid under the covers. Dean returned to his work. Zahra lay back down, turning her back to Dean. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, hoping for sleep and when it finally came, she welcomed it.

 

*

 

Sleep eventually dragged Dean under as well. He was just beginning to dream about dancing bears in tutus ( _what the hell?_ ) when a scream jolted him awake. He jumped up, banging his knees on the table he was still seated at.

 

“Shit,” he cursed and looked around for the source of screaming.

 

Zahra. She was writing on her bed, the covers twisted around her thin frame. She was still asleep. Asleep and screaming. Dean launched himself across the room and grabbed hold of her, keeping her from moving, while a groggy Sam flicked on the small lamp between the beds.

 

“Zahra!” Dean shouted. “Zahra, wake up!” He shook her with a little more force than he normally would have, but he needed her to wake up and stop screaming before someone called the police on them for child brutality. “Wake up!”

 

Her voice faded and her eyes blinked up at him. Then they widened and she looked around wildly, taking in where they were. Realizing it was just the three of them, Dean felt her relax a little.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, he glanced at Sam who shot him a half-panicked look. “Did you have a nightmare?” Dean continued, turning back to Zahra.

 

“A… nightmare,” she said faintly. Then she looked down for a moment. “That was no nightmare,” she murmured. She looked back up and Dean stopped breathing. She wore an expression of such grief, such anguish, that it literally stole his breath. Tears began to drip from her eyes and she sobbed.

 

“You, uh, want to talk about it?” Sam asked hesitantly.

 

She shook her head, then surged forward and collapsed against Dean’s chest. Dean shot his brother a bewildered look (how do you comfort a crying teenage Jedi from another galaxy?), but Sam just shrugged (he had no idea).  Dean patted the girl awkwardly on the back. He held her until her sobs ceased and her breathing evened out.

 

Assuming she was asleep, he made to lay her back down and return to the other bed, but her hand shot out and grabbed his. One look at her face and he suppressed a sigh of compliance. “Go to bed,” he whispered to Sam who switched the light off, but not before giving Dean a very pointed look. Then, Dean climbed onto the bed next to Zahra and held her against him until she really did fall asleep.

 

Sam’s light snores soon joined Zahra’s even breathing, but Dean laid awake most of the night, staring into the dark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are moving along, and the truth is sure to come out sooner or later now that Zahra is pushing for answers. Could the mysterious man from her dream have something to do with all of this? How will Bobby adjust to having two Jedi, two droids and a whole pack of wolves staying with him? Will Sam and Dean leave after they drop Zahra off or stick around a while? And what is Castiel's deal? What could he be hiding? Or is Zahra just jumping to conclusions? And what have Gandalf and Bilbo been up to this whole time since we last peeked in on them? 
> 
> Some of these questions may or may not be answered in the next installment of The Girl Who Met with Death! Stay tuned!


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An excerpt from the chapter:
> 
> “And did you? Confront Dean Winchester?”
> 
> “Yes.”
> 
> “And how did that go?”
> 
> “About as well as you might expect. He denied everything.”
> 
> “Perhaps we should let sleeping banthas lie for now. We don’t want to cause a rift between us,” Lowie said. “Besides, the truth, no matter how much we try to hide it, always has a way of coming out. Such is the Will of the Force.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter, this one reached 8000 even. I hope you all enjoy it. 
> 
> (Not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are my own.)

“So this is Bobby’s house?” Zahra asked as Dean turned off the land-speeder’s engine. She opened her door and got out, looking around at the many land-speeders in Bobby’s yard, some stacked on top of each other, all in various states of disrepair. “Why does he have so many land-speeders?”

 

“Land-speeders?” Sam asked looking confused as he unfolded himself from his seat. He looked around, frowning then laughed in realization. “Oh, cars! We call them cars here.”

 

“Oh,” Zahra said, looking at one to her right that had a short cab and a long bed at the tail end.

 

Sam followed her line of sight. “That’s what we call a truck. There are different types of cars, or vehicles, or automobiles. They have different names.”

 

“I see.” Zahra nodded. “Much like the different classes of space ships, then?”

 

“Uh, yeah, I guess. Bobby works on them sometimes and sells them. It’s a little extra income and a good cover for a hunter. Or, well, he did.” Sam frowned for a moment, then shook his head as if he were shaking off a bad thought. “But anyway, yeah this is Bobby’s. He should be waiting for us.”

 

“Lowie’s here too, right?” Zahra asked, straightening her too large shirt. She couldn’t wait to see her friend again. She reached out with the Force, calling to him silently.

 

“Yeah, Cas brought him and the others over yesterday,” Sam said.

 

She followed him towards the run down house which was in need of coat of paint – or several. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Dean pulling his and Sam’s bags from the trunk of his land-, er, his car. Zahra thought back to last night, of the terrible vision that had invaded her sleep, of waking up screaming in terror at what it meant, and then falling asleep again in Dean’s arms.

 

She’d woken that morning in much the same mode, and the potentially awkward moment had been waylaid by everyone’s growling stomachs. She’d dressed and relieved herself in record time, waited for the brothers to do likewise, and then they’d gone for breakfast and then headed out. Now, several hours later, it was late afternoon. The sun was dipping towards the horizon, and Zahra was anxious to finally see Lowie, the droids, the wolves, and Bobby.

 

But especially Lowie. She needed to talk to him about her vision. She needed his guidance.

 

Sam climbed the porch steps, and lifted his fist to knock, but before he could, the door was flung open from the inside.

 

“I told you not to open the door! What if it was someone else? Like the cops? You look like Bigfoot! They’d shoot you soon as look at you!” Bobby’s irritated remarks were all but muffled behind the hulking mass of the Wookiee standing in his doorway.

 

Zahra looked up at him, unexpected tears filling her eyes. She could hear Dean approaching from behind her, hear Sam trying to smother his laughter, hear Artoo’s plaintive beeping and Threepio’s worried greeting, and even the barking, yipping and scuffling of the wolves. All were eclipsed by the sight of her dear friend, Lowbacca.

 

His great brown eyes looked moist, and he gazed down at her with heartfelt emotion.

 

“You look well, young one,” he said in his sonorous growl that only she, Threepio and Artoo could interpret.

 

“I am well,” she said in assurance.

 

He nodded, reached out, placed one large paw on her shoulder and squeezed. Zahra grabbed onto his forearm and clung to him for just a moment, allowing herself that moment of weakness under the watchful eyes of the Winchesters. When she dropped her hand, Lowie nodded in approval, stepped back and let them enter.

 

Neither of them saw the look that Sam and Dean exchanged, full of meaning and pity for the two lost Jedi.

 

Inside, Zahra was greeted by her friends, the wolves pushing against each other to be the first to gain her attention.

 

She touched their minds as one, soothing their fears with the knowledge that she was well and that they were also.

 

“It’s good to see you all again,” she said, smiling at Bobby especially.

 

“Good to see you too, kid,” he replied.

 

“Oh, Mistress Zahra, how worried we have been! Are you all right?” Threepio asked her.

 

“I’m fine, Threepio, thank you. And I’m not your mistress. Are you okay?” she replied.

 

“Oh, I am in excellent condition, thank you. All my circuits are working perfectly. Artoo is well, and has been hard at work!”

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Scanning the land-speeders in Master Singer’s yard, of course.”

 

“Why?”

 

“In order to determine if any of them will match the hull-plating of the ship, of course! We cannot stay on this planet forever. Sooner or later, we must return to our own galaxy and find Master Danai. Was that not your mission from the outset?” Threepio asked.

 

An awkward silence fell over the group. Zahra looked at Threepio and realized that he probably hadn’t grasped the seriousness of their situation. Even she, who had known the truth from the first moment she’d gazed at the burning shell of the Falcon, had had trouble wrapping her head around that terrible fact. She knew there was no way home for them. Not now.

 

“Threepio,” she began. “We need to talk.”

 

“Later.” Lowbacca stepped forward. “We will talk later. For now, Threepio, you and Artoo can switch off until you are needed.”

 

Zahra frowned but nodded. “Later, then,” she said. She didn’t like putting the droids off, but she didn’t really want to bring up the bantha in the room either. Not just yet.

 

“Well, alright, I suppose. Do let me know if there is anything I or Artoo can do for you, Mistress Zahra,” Threepio said, in his stuffy and caring way.

 

“I shall. And I’m not your Mistress,” Zahra said to the droids as they meandered down the hall and out of sight. She then looked at Bobby. “I am so very grateful to you for taking us in, Bobby. I hope they haven’t been too much trouble,” she said just as Bilbo the wolf pup squeezed past two of his older brethren and sat on her booted foot. He yipped, demanding attention. She crouched and ran her fingers over his soft furry head.

 

“Oh, not that much of a one,” Bobby said, but he sounded exhausted. Zahra glanced upward and she took in his drawn face and wan complexion.

 

“Why don’t I send the pack outside?” she offered.

 

“Will that be okay?” Bobby asked, though there was a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

 

She stood and rested a hand on his. “Of course, don’t worry.” She glanced back at Lowie. “Help me?” she asked.

 

He nodded. Together the two of them herded the pack out the front door, leaving the hunters behind.

 

*

 

 “Are you okay, though, Bobby? Really?” Sam asked after the Jedi and wolves were gone. “You don’t look so good.”

 

“I’m just tired, Sam, don’t worry,” Bobby said with a heavy sigh. He wheeled his chair around and headed into his den. “I’m just not used to so many… well, anything being at my house. A couple of hunters every now and again, sure, but this? I feel like I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Wonderland!” He settled behind his desk, locking the brakes on the wheelchair and looked up at them. “Don’t just stand there like a couple of idjits! Get in here!”

 

Sam led the way, Dean following behind, dumping their bags one on top of the other by the doorway. He glanced over his shoulder longingly at the kitchen. The cooler he kept in the Impala was empty of beer and he could really use one right now.

 

“Dean!” Bobby called. “What’s wrong with you? You haven’t said a damn thing since you got here!”

 

“Maybe I’m tired too. We drove for nearly ten hours! Barely took a stop to piss,” Dean grunted. He slumped onto the ratty old sofa and sighed. He rubbed his hands over his face and over his hair. “I’m beat.”

 

“Yeah? Well, maybe we should just order in then,” Bobby grumbled.

 

Dean looked up. “What do you mean?”

 

“I bought some things for barbecue ribs the other day. Was planning on throwing a little welcome-to-the-house party for Zahra and her friends,” Bobby said and shrugged. “Guess we don’t have to if you’re not up to it.”

 

Dean exchanged a surprised look with Sam. “You really like her, huh?” Sam asked Bobby.

 

Bobby shrugged. “Sure, I do. Don’t you?”

 

Sam nodded then cast a look at Dean.

 

“What?” Bobby asked.

 

Dean glared at Sam even as he answered Bobby. “Nothing,” he said. “Sam’s just reading too much into some things.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Zahra had a nightmare last night,” Sam said.

 

“Sam,” Dean warned.

 

“And Dean held her while she slept,” Sam finished.

 

Bobby raised his eyebrows and looked at Dean. After a pause he said, “You what?”

 

“Don’t get excited. It didn’t mean anything,” Dean said.

 

“We’re not suggesting it did,” Sam said, lifting his hands in a placating motion. “We’re just asking you to take her feelings into consideration.”

 

“And what do you think I was doing? Screwing around?” Dean shot back then grimaced. “That came out wrong. Look, she was scared and shaking and grabbed onto me. Whatever she dreamed about shook her to her bones. I was just… I don’t know, comforting her! You were right next to us the whole time, Sam. You know nothing happened. And nothing will happen. She’s a freaking kid, for crying out loud!”

 

“Okay, okay,” Sam said. “Sorry, geez.”

 

“We just don’t want to see her hurt is all,” Bobby said. “She’s already been put through the wringer a half dozen times already.”

 

Dean glared at the both of them then headed for the kitchen. The fact that his brother and Bobby were more concerned about the feelings of a girl they’d known just over a week had him slightly off kilter for some reason. The fact that he agreed with them didn’t make him feel any better.

 

“What are you doing?” Sam called after him.

“I need a beer!” Dean shouted, yanking open the fridge and pulling one out. He spotted the po

rk ribs Bobby had bought for the barbecue and sighed. He walked to the back door and peeked out the window, pulling the lacy curtain aside. He could see Zahra and Lowie sitting on the edge of a truck bed, watching the wolves play. They seemed to be having a rather intense conversation. As he watched, Lowie slid from the truck bed, stood in front of Zahra and grabbed her shoulders. He seemed to be telling Zahra something, though what, Dean could only guess. He wondered if she’d told the other Jedi about her nightmare. If she was going to be open with anyone, it would be Lowbacca.

 

Twisting off the cap of his beer, Dean called out to Sam and Bobby over his shoulder, “And someone’s gotta start these ribs going or we aren’t having a decent meal tonight!” As he tossed back his head and gulped down the alcohol, he could swear he heard chuckling coming from the den.

 

*

 

Zahra sat beside Lowie on the bed of one of the “trucks”, watching the wolf pups play fight as their elders sniffed around the confines of their new territory. Zahra had asked Lowie to come with her with the express intention of telling him about her vision. But now that they were alone, the words had shriveled up on her tongue.

 

But Lowie being Lowie (and a perceptive Jedi), did not let the quiet lie for long.

 

“Something is on your mind,” he said. “Tell me what it is.”

 

Zahra frowned and tugged at the bottom of her shirt, picking at a stray thread. She’d brought her Elven clothes with her, not wanting to leave them behind. They were in a plastic bag buried in Sam’s duffle bag. She’d get them later and try to salvage them.

 

“Where’s my lightsaber?” she asked.

 

“I have it. It is in your pack in what Bobby designated as your room,” Lowie said. “But you are dodging my questions, young one. What is on your mind?”

 

Zahra laughed mirthlessly. “Young one,” she repeated.

 

“The name offends you?”

 

“No,” she shook her head in denial trying to form her thoughts into words. It was difficult.

 

“Zahra…,” Lowie murmured.

 

She sighed and looked up at the sky. It was mostly gray, overcast with dark clouds. The only blue visible was a sliver on the western horizon, but even that would soon fade as dusk drew nearer.

 

“Master called me that,” she said finally, still watching the sky. “Always, she called me that. Rarely did she use my name, unless I was in trouble or in danger. It was always ‘young one’ this and ‘young one’ that. I asked her once why she called me that and do you know what she said? She said ‘I will cease to call you “young one” when you no longer are’. Now what could she have meant by that, do you think? I never knew…. I never will.” She looked down at the ground between her boots. It was as gray as the sky.

 

Lowie, who had listened in silence, heaved a sigh. “You are thinking about what Threepio has yet to understand – about what you and I have already realized – we cannot go home.”

 

Zahra nodded once, clenching her fists in the bottom of her shirt, throat too tight to speak.

 

But Lowie was patient. He sat quietly beside her until she worked up the courage to say what needed to be said.

 

“Yes,” she whispered.

 

Thorin the wolf walked over to her and blinked up at her with his bright blue eyes. She smiled at him mechanically and reached down to scratch his ears. When she was done, the wolf, satisfied, walked back to his mate.

 

“I knew it when the ship was destroyed,” Zahra said to Lowie. “I knew it; in my heart I knew it. But I put it from my mind as much as possible, except when I was alone. Then the doubts, the fears, they all crept in and I… I realized the truth.” She lifted her head and looked around them. “We are stuck here. The ship is gone, our quest has failed. We will never leave this world again.”

 

“You are letting the dark side cloud your thoughts and turn them to fear,” Lowie gently admonished.

 

“What, you think there is a way to leave?”

 

“I do not know,” he answered with truth. “At first, I thought as you do, that there is no way home for us. But I have lent myself to meditation and my mind has cleared. I trust in the Force, and if a way home is presented, we must take it at the first available opportunity.”

 

“You are an idealist,” Zahra said, shaking her head.

 

“And you are too quick to doubt,” Lowie replied, some of the gentleness gone.

 

After a pause, she said, “Forgive me. You’re right. I doubt. I doubt very easily. I have not learned as well as I should have to trust in the Force.”

 

“You are only a Padawan,” Lowie said, not unkindly. “You still have much to learn.”

 

Silence grew between them again but it was not strained.

 

“There is more,” Lowie said. “Tell me what troubles you. I sensed it as you drew near to the house.”

 

“Is that why you opened the door against Bobby’s protest?”

 

“He worries too much. Had it not been you and the Winchesters I would not have opened the door and risked exposure.”

 

Zahra smiled. “He’s a good man; they all are. And he means well.”

 

“I do not deny that,” Lowie said. “I just wish he would give us a little more credit. We are Jedi after all.”

 

“Do you think they know what that means?” Zahra blurted before she could stop herself. She looked up at Lowie beside her. He did not look at all surprised.

 

“So you have sensed it as well,” was all he said.

 

“That they are hiding something from us? Yes. I knew it the moment we met, as I’m sure you did,” she said and at Lowie’s nod of agreement, continued, “And it became more apparent as time went on and I spent much of it with them. Then I had a dream…” and she proceeded to tell him of the strange man and what he had told her to do.

 

“And did you? Confront Dean Winchester?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And how did that go?”

 

“About as well as you might expect. He denied everything.”

 

“Perhaps we should let sleeping banthas lie for now. We don’t want to cause a rift between us,” Lowie said. “Besides, the truth, no matter how much we try to hide it, always has a way of coming out. Such is the Will of the Force.”

 

“There’s more,” Zahra said, his remark about the truth coming out pushing her to say what she had been putting off since they’d stepped outside.

 

“Of course there is,” Lowie murmured.

 

“Last night I had a vision in my sleep. I woke up screaming and Sam and Dean thought it was a terrible nightmare I had. I have not spoken to them about it since,” she said and felt heat creep into her cheeks. “It was a bit embarrassing.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Well, that’s not really important,” she quickly said, then sighed. “It was about Master.”

 

“The vision,” Lowie stated simply.

 

“Yes,” she said and she told him about it. She managed to keep her voice even, though her hands began to shake as the fear that she had felt in her sleep creeped into her limbs. Lowie, seeing this, reached over and covered both of her hands with one of his, and the shaking eased though did not completely abate. When she was finished, Lowie slid from his seat, stepped in front of her and held onto her shoulders tightly.

 

“Listen to me very carefully, Zahra,” he said. “Do not think on this. The vision could have been of the past, the present, or the future. There is no way for you to know. We are galaxies away from Shika, with no ship at our disposal. But I do think this: you had that vision, as unpleasant as it was, for a reason.”

 

“What reason could that be?” Zahra asked slightly hysterical.

 

“We will go home,” Lowie said simply. “The Force works in wondrous and mysterious ways. If it showed you a vision of Shika, then there is no longer any doubt: we _will_ return home. It may take some time, but we must and will be patient. Do not give in to fear. Have faith. We must have faith.”

 

Zahra knew he was right. But the vision of Master Danai had so badly shaken her (right to her core) that she could not help but have the smallest twinge of doubt. Even if – no, _when_ they made it home, would her Master still be alive?

 

*

 

Dean and Sam were peeling potatoes in the kitchen for mashed potatoes when the back door opened and Zahra stepped inside. A rumble of thunder nearly directly overhead came with her and Dean had to wonder if that was some kind of omen. He shook his head quickly at his own ridiculous thoughts. When you hunted the supernatural, you tended to see shadows where none were.

 

“Where’s Lowbacca?” Sam asked, nearly cutting off a finger. He cursed to himself and concentrated on his peeling.

 

Bobby rolled into the kitchen and paused beside the table.

 

Zahra shut the door and walked to the sink to wash her hands as she answered Sam. “He said he wanted to meditate for a while, so he went to find a spot in the woods away from the house and the wolves.”

 

“They’re bothering him?” Bobby asked.

 

They couldn’t see her face, but Dean could definitely hear a smile in her voice as she spoke. “Perhaps a little bit. The pups want to play, and the rest want to sleep. The storm will soon decide for them, no doubt.” She dried her hands on a towel and walked over to join Sam and Dean, sitting beside the latter and motioning for Sam to hand her the potato and knife. “Let me, Sam. You’ll cut yourself if you’re not careful.”

 

Sam hemmed and hawed, but handed her the items without any real refusal. When she began to peel the skin expertly, Sam smiled. “You’re good at that,” he said as he got up to grab a beer.

 

Zahra shrugged. “I’ve had practice. When my Master and I were on Belos III, we stayed in a village of farmers for awhile. I learned a great many things there. Besides it’s not like its quantum physics or anything.”

 

“Belos III?” Bobby asked, pushing Sam’s empty chair out of the way and rolling closer.

 

“It’s an agricultural planet in the Outer Rim of our galaxy,” Zahra said. “They were having some trouble with Hutts, a particularly rotten species – most of them are gangsters, extortionists or something similar – and the Hutts on Belos III were very nasty. They were exploiting the farmers and intimidating the planetary government. Master and I were sent to ease tensions, but were caught in a firefight.” Dean looked at her. Sam turned around and Bobby went still. They listened silently as Zahra recounted the events as if she were talking about the weather. “I remember Corda the Hutt firing a blaster rifle right at a small child. Master saved her, of course, and sent me to take out Corda’s guard while she took on the Hutt. He didn’t stand a chance. Eventually he surrendered and left the planet.”

 

“Why didn’t you arrest him?” Sam asked.

 

Zahra paused in her peeling for a half a breath – so brief that Dean was sure he was the only one to notice.

 

“Things work differently in the Outer Rim territories,” she said. “The Alliance has very little presence there. They’re trying to change things, of course, but violence still breeds unchecked out there.”

 

“You don’t sound like you have much faith in the, er, Alliance,” Bobby said.

 

Zahra shrugged. “I don’t. Politicians are politicians and they only look out, in the end, for their own planets and interests. Can’t blame them, perhaps, that’s just nature, but it does the less fortunate no good.”

 

“Are you speaking from experience?” Dean asked.

 

She looked at him, pausing in her peeling again. “Just a bit,” she said. She went back to her peeling, finished, and picked up another potato.

 

Dean exchanged a glance with Bobby, before returning to his own work. At the counter, Sam was chopping vegetables for a salad. Dean had already piled the ribs into a slow cooker with the barbecue sauce since the oncoming storm had nixed the idea of cooking outside. Still, it would be just as good.

 

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Bobby said after a few minutes of silence, causing Zahra to look up at him. “But where did you get those clothes?”

 

“Sam got them for me,” Zahra replied.

 

“Why?” Bobby asked, genuinely mystified.

 

She explained and he nodded in understanding. “Ah. Makes sense.”

 

“We’re going to go out tomorrow to get her some more clothes,” Sam said. “This time she’ll be able to try them on.”

 

“Why not just ask Cas?” Bobby suggested.

 

“Cas doesn’t have any money,” Dean said.

 

“Where is Castiel, anyway?” Zahra said.

 

“I don’t know. He dropped your friends off here yesterday and then took off. Haven’t seen him since,” Bobby said. He turned to Dean. “Maybe you should call him.”

 

“Why me?” Dean asked.

 

“He listens to you,” Bobby said.

 

Dean snorted. “Cas does not listen to me.”

 

“He comes when you call,” Sam said.

 

“And he comes when you call,” Dean shot back.

 

“Just call him,” Bobby said, rolling his eyes. Under his breath, he muttered, “Idjits.”

 

Dean wiped off his hands, and pulled out his cell phone, seeing Zahra smile at Bobby’s name-calling. He watched her from the corner of his eye as he pushed the number for Cas’s cell phone and held it to his ear.

 

“Hello?” came the angel’s gruff voice. Dean thought he could detect a hint of irritation in the tone as well and began to regret calling.

 

“Hey, Cas, it’s Dean. Look, we’re at Bobby’s right now. Mind swinging by?” Dean asked.

 

“I’m here,” Cas said, his voice echoing in Dean’s ear a second after it filled the small kitchen. Dean, Sam and Bobby all jumped. Zahra just looked up at Cas and smiled.

 

“Hello, Castiel,” she said pleasantly.

 

The angel looked at her as he shut his phone and stowed it away. “Hello, Zahra Rivers.”

 

Some of the irritation had left the angel’s voice and Dean could not help but marvel at the effect Zahra seemed to have on everyone. Hell, even him, if he was being honest.

 

“Why did you call for me?” Cas asked Dean.

 

“Why were you busy?” Dean asked.

 

“Not particularly.”

 

“What were you doing?” Bobby asked.

 

Cas looked at him. “I was endeavoring to uncover what Lucifer is doing. He’s been very quiet lately.”

 

“Good,” Zahra muttered under her breath. Dean thought he was the only one to hear it, until he saw Cas glance at her.

 

“Eventually, he will start to make his move,” Cas warned.

 

“Hmm,” was all she said. She picked up another potato and began to peel much more quickly.

 

“Anyway, we called you to ask you something,” Bobby said. “Dean?”

 

“Seriously?” Dean asked.

 

“Seriously,” Bobby said.

 

“What?” Cas asked looking between the two of them.

 

Dean rolled his eyes heavily, caught Zahra’s amused glance and bit back a smile. Instead, scowling, he said, “We need you to run to the store and get some clothes.”

 

Castiel stared at him. “Dean, Lucifer has been set free. His demons are wreaking havoc across the world, we still have yet to find a way to stop him, and you want me to drop everything and go shopping?” He looked incredulous. “Have you lost your mind?”

 

“Not for me, for Zahra,” Dean replied. He gestured at her. “Sam grossly miscalculated her sizes.”

 

“I did my best,” Sam muttered from the counter. He went ignored.

 

“She’s going to be around a while, so we might as well get her some things that actually, you know, fit,” Dean said. He could not believe he was having this conversation. He’d had some weird ones with Cas before, but this? It took the cake, the pie and the whole enchilada.

 

“I’m right here, you know,” Zahra said.

 

Cas blinked at him, then looked at Zahra. “I see.” He stepped closer. “Stand up.”

 

Zahra stood, pushing back her chair, and faced him.

 

Cas put his hands on her shoulders and studied her face intently. Then he looked her up and down, equally as intense. After a moment he nodded, stepped back and said, “I’ll be back.” Then he was gone.

 

“Why didn’t he take her with him?” Bobby asked.

 

“Who the hell knows?” Dean asked, giving up. “Let’s get back to work. I’m already getting hungry.”

 

Zahra retook her seat beside him.

 

Just then, thunder boomed loudly overhead and lightning flashed. In the next moment, rain began to fall, splattering on the roof and the windows. They could hear it hitting the many cars outside in the yard.

 

“Will Lowbacca be okay in this?” Sam asked, walking to the back door and glancing out the window.

 

“If not, he’ll come back,” Zahra said. She didn’t sound worried, but Dean noticed a faint crease between her eyebrows.

 

“Maybe one of us should go look for him?” Bobby said.

 

“If he’s not back in an hour, I will –,” Zahra began.

 

“Stay here,” Dean finished. “Sam and I’ll go look for him.” Though he did not particularly relish the idea of going out in this crazy weather.

 

*

 

In the end, Lowie came back on his own with no need for anyone to go looking for him. Sam grabbed him two large beach towels for the Wookiee to dry off with, though he was still damp after he used them. He perched his huge frame in a chair near Zahra and watched as she and Dean finished dicing the potatoes (which they’d begun after peeling them). Dean took the potato chunks, rinsed them and set them to boil to soften them up. Beside him, Zahra watched intently. When he walked back to the table, she followed.

 

“Do you think the wolves are okay?” she asked Lowbacca.

 

He rumbled at her in his speech, Dean, Sam and Bobby completely clueless as to what he was saying, but whatever it was seemed to mollify the girl. She nodded and grew silent. When her leg began to bounce next to Dean, he sighed.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

 

“What? Oh, nothing,” she replied, glancing briefly at him.

 

Dean, taking a swig from his third beer, eyed her. Then he reached over and grabbed her knee, effectively halting the bouncing that was rocking the table. She looked up at him in surprise.

 

“Come on,” he said. “Something’s bothering you. What is it?”

 

She pulled her leg away and gave him a challenging look. “What do you think it could be?”

 

Dean could see where this was headed and sighed, running a hand over his face. He really was tired.

 

“Never mind,” he muttered. He stood and took himself and his beer into the living room/den to turn on the TV.

 

When Sam sat beside him, though, he almost groaned.

 

“What?” he asked.

 

“Dean, I really think we should tell them,” Sam muttered.

 

“Sam, do not start, okay? I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I just want dinner to be ready so we can eat and go to bed. I am not in the mood for this,” Dean said.

 

Sam sighed and said nothing else.

 

*

 

“Where did you put my lightsaber again?” Zahra asked Lowie a few minutes after Sam and Dean had left the kitchen.

 

“In your room,” Lowie said.

 

“And where is my room?”

 

“Upstairs.”

 

“Why don’t you go on up and see it,” Bobby suggested. “I’d take you but, well, stairs aren’t exactly viable for me now.” He patted the arms of his wheelchair to make his point.

 

“Where do you sleep then?” Zahra asked him.

 

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I got me a little bed in the den.”

 

“You shouldn’t have to sleep down here in your own home,” Zahra said. “Lowie, or even I, could carry you --.”

 

“No,” Bobby cut her off abruptly. Then he added more gently, “Thank you but no, Zahra. I’m fine sleeping in the living room.”

 

Zahra bit her tongue and nodded. It was his decision and she had to respect it.

 

“Very well,” she said. “I think I’ll go up and see my room, then, and freshen up some.”

 

Bobby nodded.

 

Lowie stood and led her upstairs to her room. When she pushed open the door, she spotted her pack sitting on top of a dresser, her lightsaber resting beside it. She walked over and picked up the hilt, gripping it tightly in both hands. Until that moment, she had not realized how exceedingly uneasy she had been. A lightsaber was a Jedi’s tool and more often than not was the only thing (other than the Force) to keep them from death’s door. Being parted from it was one of the most difficult things Zahra had experienced, more so than being stranded halfway across the universe from home.

 

“What is it?” Lowie asked.

 

Zahra turned to him, still holding her lightsaber hilt tightly to her chest. “I don’t think I realized how vulnerable I was without it.”

 

Lowie nodded. “You had other things on your mind.”

 

“Yes, that is true,” Zahra murmured. She clipped it to her belt and let out a small sigh. Then she looked around the room. In addition to the dresser, there was a large bed made up with dark blue covers with two tables on either side of its head and a lamp on each one. There was no other decoration other than a painting on the farthest wall that showed a meadow in the heart of a forest. A window across from the bed looked out onto the yard below.

 

“Will it do?” Lowie asked her.

 

She nodded. “It will.”

 

“Why don’t you put your things away,” he suggested, gesturing to her pack. “I will be downstairs if you need me. The bathroom is down the hall, the second door on your right. If you wish to bathe, everything you need is in there.”

 

“Thanks, Lowie. A shower does sound nice,” she admitted with a tired smile.

 

He patted her shoulder and left her.

 

Alone again, Zahra did as Lowie suggested and emptied her pack, putting everything away into the empty dresser drawers. She didn’t have much. She removed her boots and belt, reluctantly parting from her lightsaber once more. _Though it won’t be for long_ , she told herself. She was just putting together fresh clothes to take to the bathroom with her, when she paused. She lifted her head, listening, feeling, and then turned to face the room just as Castiel appeared.

 

“Hello, Castiel,” she said. She regarded the many bags he gripped in his hands with curiosity.

 

“You don’t seem surprised every time I appear,” he said, setting the bags on the bed. “You don’t jump like Dean, Sam and Bobby.”

 

She smiled. “I felt your approach,” she said.

 

He nodded once, as if that made perfect sense to him. But then, he _was_ a being of light. The Force thrummed throughout his whole being; he as attuned to it. It only made sense that she would feel his presence so strongly.

 

“I got you some clothes,” he continued. “I hope they fit.”

 

She walked over and reached into one bag and pulled out a brassiere. She glanced at Castiel as her cheeks grew warm. The angel regarded her evenly; when he noticed her blush, he canted his head to the side.

 

“Something wrong?” he asked.

 

“No,” she said a little too quickly. She dropped the brassiere back into the bag and went through the rest of the bags, finding pants, shirts, a jacket and socks and (she blushed again) underwear. Why he had gone to such lengths to buy her underclothes, she had no idea, and did not want to know. Everything looked as if it would fit her perfectly, as well. She also did not want to know how he had guessed her sizes. Perhaps his earlier intense scrutiny had had some purpose to it after all.

 

“I think everything will fit just fine, Castiel,” she said and smiled at him, some of her blush receding.

 

He nodded. “Good. I’m glad.”

 

Silence grew between them. “I was going to take a shower before dinner,” she said.

 

“Seems wise,” he agreed.

 

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Were you going to stick around?” she asked.

 

“Huh? Oh, no. I’m sorry. Forgive me. Dean has spoken to me about the need for personal space,” Castiel said. “I will go downstairs and wait.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Zahra said.

 

He stood there for another beat, his gaze penetrating, and then disappeared. A muffled curse from below told her Castiel had surprised the Winchesters again.

 

Smiling to herself, Zahra grabbed some of the new clothes Cas had brought and her hairbrush and headed to the bathroom. A shower did sound perfect.

 

*

The shower was rejuvenating, to put it mildly. She stood beneath the spray for several minutes, letting it relax tense muscles and allowing the repetitive feel of the droplets on her skin lull her into a semi-meditative state. She thought of nothing but the water, running down her body, soaking her long hair and freeing the tension and anxiety and fear that had plagued her for so long. But it did not last. As soon as she turned the water off, all those feelings and thoughts came rushing back and settled like a weight on her heart.

 

She tried to keep her mind blank, though, as she dried and brushed her hair and dressed in the new clothes Castiel had brought her. The pants, which Sam had said were called jeans (she’d asked them that morning what the material was called), were skin tight but fit perfectly. A black shirt went over the brassiere, and she pulled on a black and red checkered shirt over that. When she braided her hair she realized that her outfit very closely resembled that which Sam and Dean wore. She wondered if that was a coincidence or not. She left the bathroom finally,  and went into her room again. She pulled on a pair of socks and then stuffed her feet back into her boots. She clipped on her belt (running a hand reassuringly over her lightsaber in the process) and then pulled out a tan leather jacket that matched her boots fairly well. She slipped it on and examined herself in the window since there was no mirror in her room.

 

“Not bad,” she said to herself nodding appreciatively at her own appearance.

 

“Zahra! Dinner is almost ready!” Sam’s voice called up the stairs.

 

“Coming!” she shouted back.

 

As she descended the stairs, Dean was just coming out of the den. He glanced up at her, did a double take and stopped moving.

 

“Is something wrong?” she asked, stopping several steps from the bottom. She looked down at herself. “Do I look okay?”

 

“Yeah, you look fine,” Dean said. “Cas, if the whole angel thing doesn’t pan out, you could always be a personal shopper.”

 

Cas appeared behind him. “I take my duties as an angel very seriously, Dean. Even if I have rebelled from Heaven.” He looked at Zahra. “Everything fits?”

 

She nodded. “Perfectly.”

 

“Good.” He nodded and went back into the den.

 

Sam stepped out of the kitchen, Bobby at his heels.

 

“Damn,” Bobby said.

 

“What?” Zahra asked, a little alarmed at the way the three of them were staring at her.

 

“You look like a hunter,” Bobby said. He smiled, nodding. “Like a real hunter.”

 

“You’re pretty,” Sam said.

 

Zahra smiled widely at him. “Thank you, Sam.”

 

Dean tore his eyes away, shaking his head and muttering something that sounded like “jailbait” under his breath. He strode past his brother and Bobby and into the kitchen. “Let’s eat!” he announced and the four of them settled at the small table. As she took her seat across form Sam and next to Bobby, she looked around for Lowbacca.

 

“If you’re looking for your friend, he went back outside,” Bobby said. “The wolves were making a racket, so he went outside to settle them down. We’ll take him a plate later.”

 

Alarm flashed through Zahra. If the wolves were upset, then she should be with them. She’d been the one to touch their minds first, after all. Their well-fare was her responsibility.

 

“I should help him,” she said and started to stand.

 

“Sit down,” Dean ordered, coming over with two plates filled with hot steaming food. “You can help after you’ve eaten.”

 

Zahra glared, but the enticing aromas coming from the plate he set down in front of her put an end to any protest she might have had. She regarded the food. The meat was falling off the bone and drenched in a reddish-brown sauce that smelled sweet and tangy at the same time. The potatoes had been mashed and drizzled with cheese and butter, and the salad Sam had prepared was riddled with bright vegetables.  It all looked delicious, and her stomach rumbled letting her know just how hungry she was. She glanced out the window in concern once more however and was assured to see that the storm had passed. At least Lowie wouldn’t get drenched again.

 

Once Dean had seated himself, the four dug in. For a while, the only sound in the kitchen was the sound of four hungry humans enjoying their dinner.

 

Dean finished off one rib and licked his fingers clean. “I do think I’ve outdone myself,” he gloated.

 

Sam rolled his eyes. He looked up at Zahra. “How is it?” he asked her.

 

“Delicious,” she said around a mouthful of potato. She swallowed. “Really, it’s very good. I hope you didn’t go to all this trouble on my account.”

 

The three men looked away then back at her. “Not at all,” Bobby said.

 

“Right...,” Zahra said skeptically.

 

“We just wanted you to fill welcome,” Bobby relented. “What better way than a home-cooked meal?”

 

“Thank you,” Zahra said, a little embarrassed. “I appreciate it.”

 

“So, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself,” Bobby suggested.

 

She shrugged. “I cannot think of what to say that would be interesting. You already know the important stuff.”

 

“We know the big stuff, like you being a Jedi and how you came to be here on this world, but we don’t really know you,” Bobby said, looking at her thoughtfully. “Tell us about _you_. What makes you, you?”

 

Zahra set her fork down, wiped off her hands on a paper towel and took a drink of water to order her thoughts. What could she say? She didn’t like to talk about her family life – there wasn’t much of one to begin with. She remembered her talk with Thorin atop the Carrock. That was the closest she’d come in a long, long time to discussing her painful childhood. Perhaps she could do here as she had then and stick to the bare minimum, just the basic facts. Would that suffice?

 

She set her glass back down and leaned back in her seat, her half-eaten meal for now forgotten. She focused on a point of the ceiling that showed the beginnings of water damage, a light brown spot that created a ring, not eager to look Bobby, Sam or Dean in the eye as she spoke. She was also acutely aware of Castiel sidling into the kitchen by the doorway.

 

“I grew up in my father’s house,” she began, “surrounded by his many children, my half-siblings, by his other wives. I had few friends among them, besides my oldest brother. He was always kind to me. My mother I have seen only once, when I was five years old. She came and went in less than a day and I have not seen or heard of her since.” She paused. What more to add? She shrugged. “That’s really all that’s important.” She picked her fork back up and took another bite of potato.

 

“That’s all?” Bobby asked after a moment.

 

“All that’s important,” she repeated. “I left my home world when I was seven. I’ve only been back once since then, when I was newly apprenticed to Master Danai and it was... not a warm welcome.”

 

“Whoa, wait,” Dean said. “Wives? Plural? As in more than one?”

 

“That’s what you focused on?” Sam asked.

 

Dean gave him an annoyed look.

 

“Yes, my father has many wives. He... is a man of... great stature,” Zahra said slowly trying to find the right words. “He is allowed as many wives as he chooses. He has, last I heard, about five.”

 

“And your mother was one of them?” Bobby asked.

 

Zahra’s gaze narrowed as she looked at her plate. “No, she was not,” she said.

 

“So he had an affair?” Dean asked.

 

Zahra looked at him. “Yes,” she said simply.

 

“Huh,” Dean said.

 

“What does that mean?” she snapped at him.

 

“What? Nothing, just... trying to be noncommittal and make no judgments,” Dean said.

 

“Well, feel free to make all the judgments you wish. I do,” Zahra said.

 

“You don’t get along with your dad?” Sam asked.

 

“That’s putting it mildly,” she said. Then she shook her head. “I would rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind.”

 

“Sure, sure,” Bobby said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

 

“You didn’t, Bobby,” she said and sighed. “The pains of the past sometimes run too deep... even for a Jedi.”

 

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, a nice reprieve, Zahra thought, as memories of her childhood swirled in her mind.

 

*

 

After dinner, Bobby and Sam went into the den and Zahra stayed with Dean to help him clean up. He tried to tell her he didn’t need help, but she waved off his protests and helped anyway.  He washed and she dried, stacking the clean dishes on the counter since she didn’t know where they went. They worked in silence, listening to the chatter coming from the other room.

 

“Put the TV on, Sam,” Bobby said. “Let’s see what’s on. We don’t do that often enough.”

 

A minute later there was an all too familiar beeping sound and both Zahra and Dean stilled. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw several emotions cross over her face one after the other: confusion, realization, anger, then an eerie calm that shut down her expression all together. She looked up at him, her eyes steady, calm, and full of repressed feeling that Dean could not identify.

 

“Zahra,” he began, but stopped when he realized he didn’t know what to say.

 

“Change the channel!” Bobby whispered hurriedly behind them.

 

With a studied calm, Zahra set the glass she’d been drying and the dish towel down on the counter. She turned, lifted a hand and the remote flew from Sam’s hand into hers. All eyes went to her. Then she took a step, intending, no doubt, to march right into the living room and demand answers, but Dean grabbed her arm, halting her progress.

 

Again, she looked up at him and, at her glare, Dean dropped his hand. She marched forward and he followed, not knowing what to say or do to salvage the moment, but he realized it was pointless. She had heard the sound of Artoo’s beeping just as clearly as he had. And it should have been impossible since she and Lowbacca had told the droids to power down. All Dean’s attempts to hide the truth from her had failed – and the fallout, so far, was not looking good.

 

*

 

In the den, Zahra changed the channel back to the original one and she stared blankly at the screen. Silence reigned, except for the television. Zahra’s jaw was set in a cold line and she lifted it. She looked at Sam, who looked down quickly. Then at Dean who was glaring at the television screen as if it had betrayed him. Then to Bobby who was studying his desk lamp as if it were the most interesting thing in the room. Then, finally, to Castiel who looked back evenly – the only one who would. She stared at him as, on the screen, a young Master Skywalker and his uncle bought R2-D2 and C-3PO from Jawa traders.

 

“Did you know?” she asked the angel in a quiet voice that still, somehow, rang in the room like an alarm claxon.

 

“I did,” he answered just as quietly.

 

She inhaled sharply through her nose and looked back at the screen. The message from Princess Leia Organa-Solo played, looping back on itself.

 

“You all knew?” she asked.

 

Not one of the hunters answered, which was answer enough.

 

“I see,” she whispered.

 

She dropped the remote onto the table. For a moment, she was torn. To go or to stay? As Master Skywalker argued with his uncle with all the petulance of youth, she came to a decision. Turning on her heel, she walked from the room, up the stairs and into her bedroom. The door shut softly behind her, with a small click holding a ring of finality to it that squeezed her heart painfully in her chest.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of my favorite scenes to write are the ones between Zahra and Lowie. I love their friendship.


End file.
